Iliad 


An  Autobiography  with 
Reiniiiiiscences  of  the 
Last  and  Present  9  9 
Century  ?  9 


W.  GIBBS 


3  5  JLaf *   Consul  to   Madagascar 


W/V^  an  Introduction  by 
BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 


WARREN  GREGORY-  1864-1927 


WARREN  GREGORY,  a  native  Califbrnian,  received  the  A.B.  degree 
at  the  University  of  California  with  the  Class  of  1887.  He  was 
graduated  from  Hastings  College  of  Law  in  1890,  and  for  37 
years  practiced  law  in  San  Francisco.  He  served  as  president  of 
the  Alumni  Association  and  as  a  Regent  of  the  University  of  Cali 
fornia  from  1919  to  1922.  This  book  was  purchased  from  the 
income  of  a  memorial  fund  established  by  his  family. 


913a  GIBBS,  MIFFLIN  WISTER.  Shadow  and  Light.  An  Autobiography 
with  Reminiscences  of  the  Last  and  Present  Century.  372  pp.  Illus.  12mo, 
cloth.  Washington,  1902.  $75.00 

The  above  work  is  a  very  scarce  and  uncommon  book  by  an  educated  Negro  who 
had  many  varied  experiences  in  California  and  the  Pacific  Northwest.  Born  in  Phila 
delphia,  Gibbs  was  influenced  at  an  early  age  by  Frederic  Douglas  for  whom  he  lec- 
ired  and  carried  on  propaganda  work  for  the  betterment  of  the  Negro.  He  later  went 
jverland  to  California  in  the  gold  rush,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  in  Sept.,  1850.  He 
first  worked  as  a  carpenter  and  then  founded  the  firm  of  Lester  and  Gibbs,  dealer  in 
fine  boots  and  shoes.  In  1851,  Gibbs,  with  Jonas  P.  Townsend  and  W.  W.  Newby,  pub 
lished  in  the  "Alta  California,"  a  public  protest  against  being  disfranchised  and  denied 
their  right  of  oath.  It  was  the  first  pronouncement  of  the  colored  people  of  the  state 
of  California.  The  protest  caused  much  excitement  at  the  time.  Gibbs  later  published 
the  first  periodical  in  the  state,  "The  Mirror  of  the  Times,"  which  advocated  equal 
rights.  In  1865,  when  gold  was  discovered  on  the  Fraser  River,  he  went  there  with  a 
stock  of  goods.  He  resided  in  Victoria,  B.  C.,  for  several  years,  being  elected  to  the 
Common  Council  there  in  1866.  He  later  went  to  Florida,  was  appointed  U.  S.  Consul 
to  Madagascar;  and  in  1872  settled  down  to  the  practice  of  law  in  Little  Rock,  Ark., 
where  he  became  a  municipal  judge.  The  above  little  work  is  an  important  contribu 
tion  to  the  times  and  is  seldom  offered. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT 


AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

WITH    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   LAST  AND    PRESENT 
CENTURY. 


MIFFLIN  WISTAR  GIBBS 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 


A  Fatherless  Boy,  Carpenter  and  Contractor,  Anti-Slavery 
Lecturer,  Merchant,  Railroad  Builder,  Superintendent  of 
Mine,  Attorney-at-Law,  County  Attorney,  Municipal  Judge 
Register  of  United  States  Lands,  Receiver  of  Public  Monies 
for  U.  S  ,  United  States  Consul  to  Madagascar — Prominent 
Race  Leaders,  etc. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
1902. 


COPYRIGHT,  1902. 


PREFACE. 


During  the  late  years  abroad,  while  read 
ing  the  biographies  of  distinguished  men 
who  had  been  benefactors,  the  thought  oc 
curred  that  I  had  had  a  varied  career, 
though  not  as  fruitful  or  as  deserving  of  re 
nown  as  these  characters,  and  differing  as 
to  status  and  aim.  Yet  the  portrayal  might 
be  of  benefit  to-  those  who,  eager  for  ad 
vancement,  are  willing  to  be  laborious  stu 
dents  to  attain  worthy  ends. 

I  have  aimed  to  give  an  added  interest  to 
the  narrative  by  embellishing  its  pages 
with  portraits  of  men  who  have  gained  dis 
tinction  in  various  fields,  who  need  only  to 
be  seen  to  present  the  career  of  those  now 
living  as  worthy  models,  and  the  record  of 
the  dead,  who  left  the  world  the  better  for 
having  lived.  To  enjoy  a  life  prominent 
and  prolonged  is  a  desire  as  natural  as 
worthy,  and  there  have  been  those  who 
sought  to  extend  its  duration  by  nostrums 
and  drinking-waters  said  to  bestow  the  vir 
tue  of  "perpetual  life."  But  if  "to  live  in 
hearts  we  leave  behind  is  not  to  die,"  to  be 
worthy  of  such  memorial  we  must  have 
done  or  said  something  that  blessed  the 
living  or  benefited  coming  generations. 
Hence  autobiography  is  the  record,  for 
"books  are  as  tombstones  made  by  the  liv- 


iv  PREFACE. 

ing,  but  destined  soon  to  remind  us  of  the 
dead." 

Trusting  that  any  absence  of  literary 
merit  will  not  impair  the  author's  cher 
ished  design  to  "impart  a  moral,"  should 
he  fail  to  "adorn  a  tale." 

Little  Rock,  Ark.,  January,  1902. 


INTRODUCTION. 


By  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 

It  is  seldom  that  one  man,  even  if  he  has 
lived  as  long  as  Judge  M.  W.  Gibbs  is 
able  to  record  his  impressions  of  so  many 
widely  separated  parts  of  the  earth's  sur 
face  as  Judge  Gibbs  can,  or  to  recall  per 
sonal  experiences  in  so  many  important  oc 
currences. 

Born  in  Philadelphia,  and  living  there 
when  that  city — almost  on  the  border  line 
between  slavery  and  freedom — \vas  the 
scene  of  some  of  the  most  stirring  incidents 
in  the  abolition  agitation,  he  was  able  as 
a  free  colored  youth,  going  to  Maryland  to 
work,  to  see  and  judge  of  the  condition  of 
the  slaves  in  that  State.  Some  of  the  most 
dramatic  operations  of  the  famous  "Under 
ground  Railroad"  came  under  his  personal 
observation.  He  enjoyed  the  rare  privilege 
of  being  associated  in  labor  for  the  race 
with  that  man  of  sainted  memory,  the  Hon. 
Frederick  Douglass.  He  met  and  heard 
many  of  the  most  notable  men  and  women 
who  labored  to  secure  the  freedom  of  the 
Negro.  As  a  resident  of_.Califo:mia  in  the 
exciting  years  which  immediately  followed 
the  discovery  of  gold,  he  watched  the  devel 
opment  of  lawlessness  there  and  its  results. 
A  few  vears  later  he  went  to  British  Colum- 


VI 


INTRODUCTION, 


bia  to  live,  when  that  colony  was  practical 
ly  nu  unknown  country.  Returning  to  the 
United  States,  he  was  a  witness  to  the  ex 
citing  events  connected  with  the  years  of 
Reconstruction  in  Florida,  and  an  active 
participant  in  the  events  of  that  period  in 
the  State  of  Arkansas.  At  one  time  and 
another  he  has  met  many  of  the  men  who 
have  been  prominent  in  the  direction  of  the 
affairs  of  both  the  great  political  parties  of 
the  country.  In  more  recent  years  he  has 
been  able  to  see  something  of  life  in 
Europe,  and  in  his  official  capacity  as 
United  States  Consul  to  Tamatave,  Mada 
gascar,  adjoining  Africa,  has  resided  for 
some  time  in  that  far-off  and  strange  land. 

It  would  be  difficult  for  any  man  who 
has  had  all  these  experiences  not  to  be  en 
tertaining  when  he  tells  of  them.  Judge 
Gibbs  has  written  an  interesting  book. 

Interspersed  with  the  author's  recollec 
tions  and  descriptions  are  various  conclu 
sions,  as  when  he  says:  "Labor  to  make 
yourself  as  indispensable  as  possible  in  all 
your  relations  with  the  dominant  race,  and 
color  will  cut  less  figure  in  your  up 
ward  grade." 

"Vice  is  ever  destructive;  ignorance  ever 
a  victim,  and  poverty  ever  defenseless." 

"Only  as  we  increase  in  property  will 
our  political  barometer  rise." 

It  is  significant  to  find  one  who  has  seen 
so  much  of  the  world  as  Judge  Gibbs  has, 
Diving,  as  lie  does:  "With  travel  some- 
\\liaf  cxiciisivc  and  diversified,  and  with 
residence  in  Iropirai  latitudes  of  Negro 


INTRODUCTION.  vii 

origin,  I  have  a  decided  conviction,  despite 
the  crucial  test  to  which  he  has  been  sub 
jected  in  the  past,  and  the  present  disad 
vantages  under  which  he  labors,  that  no 
where  is  the  promise  along  all  the  lines  of 
opportunity  brighter  for  the  American  Ne 
gro  than  here  in  the  land  of  his  nativity." 
I  bespeak  for  the  book  a  careful  reading 
by  those  who  are  interested  in  the  history 
of  the  Negro  in  America,  and  in  his  present 
and  future. 

BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON, 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  I 3 

Parents,  School  and  Teacher— Foundation  of 
the  Negroes'  Mechanical  Knowledge— First 
Brick  A.  M.  E.  Church— Bishop  Allen— Olive 
Cemetery— Harriet  Smith  Home— "Under 
ground  Railroad"— Incidents  on  the  Road- 
William  and  Ellen  Craft— William  Box  Brown. 

CHAPTER   II 15 

Nat  Turner's  Insurrection— Experience  on  a 
Maryland  Plantation— First  Street  Cars  in 
Philadelphia— Anti-Slavery  Meetings— Amus 
ing  Incidents— Opposition  of  Negro  Churches— 
Kossuth  Celebration,  and  the  Unwelcome 
Guest 

CHAPTER  III 20 

Cinguez,  the  Hero  of  Arniistead  Captives— The 
Threshold  of  Man's  Estate— My  First  Lectur 
ing  Tour  with  Frederic  Douglass — His  "Life 
and  Times"— Pen  Picture  of  George  William 
Curtis  of  Ante-Bellum  Conditions — Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe,  Lucretia  Mott,  and  Frances  E. 
Harper,  a  Noble  Band  .of  Women— "Go  Do 
Some  Great  Thing" — Journey  to  California — 
Incidents  at  Panama. 

CHAPTER  IV 40 

Arrival  at  San  Francisco — Getting  Domiciled 
and  Seeking  Work— Strike  of  White  Em 
ployees — Lester  &  Gibbs,  Importers — As 
saulted  in  Our  Store— First  Protest  from  the 
Colored  Men  of  California— Poll  Tax. 

CHAPTER  V 51 

"Vigilance  Committee"  and  Lynch  Law  at 
"Fort  Gunny"— Murder  of  James  King,  of  Wil 
liam—A  Paradox  to  Present  Conditions. 

CHAPTER  VI. 59. 

( !  old  Discovery  in  British  Columbia— Incidents 
on  Shipboard  and  Arrival  at  Victoria— Na 
tional  Unrest  in  1859— "Irrepressible  Conflict" 
—Garrison  and  Douglass— Harriet  Beecher 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 


Stowe  and  Frances  Ellen  Harper-John  Brown 
of   Harper's   Ferry-"Fugitive   Slave   Law  - 
Flight  to  Canada. 


President-Rebellion  Inaug- 
urated-Success  of  the  Union  Army-Re-Elec- 
tion  of  Lincoln-Bravery  and  Endurance  of 
Negro  Soldiers— Assassination  of  Lincoln— 
Lynching  Denounced  by  Southern  Governors 
and  Statesmen-Words  of  Wisdom  from 
St.  Pierre  de  Couberton. 

CHAPTER  VIII •      •  .   • 

My  First  Entry  Into  Political  Life— Intricacies 
of  the  Ballot— Number  of  Negro  Schools, 
Pupils  and  Amount  of  School  Property  in  1898 
—Amendment  to  Constitution  and  Interview 
with  Vice-President  Schuyler  Colfax  at  Vic 
toria,  B.  C.— William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Jr.,  and 
James  Russell  Lowell  on  the  Right  to  Vote. 
CHAPTER  IX.  .  .  .  •'..'•  •  -  • 

Philip  A.  Bell,  a  Veteran  Editor  of  the  "Negro 
Press"— British  Columbia,  Its  Early  History, 
Efforts  for  Annexation  to  the  United  States- 
Meeting  with  Lady  Franklin,  Widow  of  Sir 
John  Franklin,  the  Arctic  Explorer,  in  1859— 
Union  of  British  Columbia  with  the  Dominion 
of  Canada  in  1868,  the  Political  Issue— Queen 
Charlotte  Island— Anthracite  Coal  Company- 
Director,  Contractor  and  Shipper  of  First 
Cargo  of  Anthracite  Coal  on  the  Pacific 
Coast— Indians  and  Their  Peculiarities. 

CHAPTER  X 10? 

An  Incident  of  Peril— My  Return  to  the  United 
States  in  1869— Thoughts  and  Feelings  En 
Route— Entered  Oberlin  Law  College  and 
Graduated— Visit  to  my  Brother,  J.  C.  Gibbs, 
Secretary  of  State  of  Florida— A  Delegate  to 
the  National  Convention  of  Colored  Men  at 
Charleston,  S.  C.— "Gratitude  Expensive"— The 
Trend  of  Republican  Leaders— Contribution  of 
Southern  White  People  for  Negro  Education- 
Views  of  a  Leading  Democrat. 

CHAPTER  XI 12: 

President  of  National  Convention  at  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  in  1876— Pen  and  Ink  Sketch  by  H.  V. 
Redfield  of  "Cincinnati  Commercial" — Colored 
Leaders  Desire  to  Fraternize  for  Race  Protec- 


CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE 

tion— William  H.  Grey,  H.  B.  Robinson,  and 
J.  IT.  Johnson,  of  Arkansas,  Leaders  and 
Planters— My  Arrival  at  Little  Rock,  May, 
1871— Reading  of  Local  Statutes  in  the  Law 
Office  of  Benjamin  &  Barnes— "Wheeler  & 
Gibbs,"  Attorneys-at-Law. 

CHAPTER  XII 134 

Politics  and  Politicians— Disruption  of  the  Re 
publicans  in  Arkansas— "Minstrels  and  Brin- 
dle  Tails"— Early  Canvassing  in  the  South, 
with  Its  Peculiarities— Ku  Klux  Visits— My 
Appointment  as  County  Attorney  and  Election 
as  Municipal  Judge— Hon.  John  Allen,  of  Mis 
sissippi,  His  Descriptive  Anecdote. 

CHAPTER  XIII 145 

Lowering  Cloud  on  Righteous  Rule— Compari 
son  of  Negro  Progress— Sir  Walter  Scott  in  His 
Notes  on  English  History — George  C.  Lorimer, 
a  Noted  Divine — Educational  Solution  of  the 
Race  Problem— Baron  Russell,  Lord  Chief  Jus 
tice  of  England— Civil  War  in  Arkansas- 
Expulsion  of  Governor  Baxter  and  Instalment 
of  Governor  Brooks  at  the  State  House— 
Stirring  Episodes— "Who  Shall  Bell  the 
Cat?"— Extraordinary  Session  of  the  Legisla 
ture—My  Issue  of  a  Search  Warrant  for  the 
Seal  of  the  State— Recognition  of  Baxter  by 
the  President. 

CHAPTER  XIV 158 

Arkansas  Constitutional  Convention  and  New 
Constitution  Adopted— Augustus  II.  Garland 
Elected  Governor— My  Letter  from  Madagas 
car  on  Learning  of  His  Demise— General 
Grant's  Nomination  in  1872  at  the  Academy  of 
Music,  Philadelphia— Oliver  P.  Morton,  of  In 
diana—William  II.  Gray,  of  Arkansasr-R.  B. 
Elliot,  of  South  Carolina— "Henry  at  Ajin- 
court"— Study  of  Obsolete  Languages  Versus 
Industrial  Education— Views  of  Lord  Rose- 
bery.  ox-Premier  of  England— Also  of  Wash 
ington  Post— United  States  I  lav.'  Supreme 
Advantages  for  the  Negro. 

CHAPTER  XV 173 

Presidential  Elector  in  1876,  Receiving  the 
Highest  Vote— President  Hayes,  His  Yearn 
ings  .-iiid  Accomplishments— Protest  Againsi 
Lawlessness  by  the  Negroes  in  Slate  Conven- 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

tions— Negro  Exodus  from  the  Southern  to  the 
Western  States  in  1878— Secretary  William 
Windom's  Letter— Hon  J.  C.  Rapier,  of  Ala 
bama,  and  Myself  Appointed  by  Secretary 
Winilom  to  Visit  Western  States  and  Report. 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Appointed  by  the  President  in  1877  Register 
of  U.  S.  Lands— Robert  J.  Ingresoll  on  the 
Benignity  of  Homestead  Law— General 
Grant's  Tour  Around  the  World  and  His 
Arrival  at  Little  Rock,  1879— A  Guest  at  the 
Banquet  Given  Him— Response  to  the  Toast, 
"The  Possibilities  of  American  Citizenship"- 
Roscoe  Conkling' s  Speech  Nominating  General 
Grant  for  Third  Term—Bronze  Medal  as  one  of 
the  Historic  "306"  at  the  National  Convention 
Of  1880— The  Manner  of  General  Grant's  De 
feat  for  Nomination  and  Garfield's  Success- 
Character  Sketches  of  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine, 
Ingersoll's  Mailed  Warrior  and  Plumed  Knight 
—Hon  G  rover  Cleveland. 

CHAPTER  XVII 195 

Honorary  Commissioner  for  the  Colored  Ex 
hibits  of  the  World's  Exposition  at  New  Or 
leans.  La.— Neglected  Opportunties— Impor 
tant  Factors  Necessary  to  Recognition. 

CHAPTER  XVIII 201 

Effort  of  Henry  Brown,  of  Oberlin,  Ohio,  to 
Establish  "Schools  of  Trade"— Call  for  a  Con 
ference  of  Leading  Colored  Men  in  1885 — In 
dustrial  Fair  at  Pine  Bluff,  Ark.— Captain 
Thompson,  of  the  "Capital  Guards,"  a  Colored 
Military  Company— Meeting  of  Prominent 
Leaders  at  New  Orleans— The  Late  N.  W. 
Cuney,  of  Texas— Contented  Benefactions 
from  Christian  Churches. 

CHAPTER  XIX 215 

The  Reunion  of  General  Grant's  "306"— Ferdi 
nand  Havis,  of  Pine  Bluff— Compromise  and 
Disfranchisement— Progress  of  the  Negro — 
"Decoration  Day"— My  Letter  to  the  "Ga 
zette"— Commission  to  Sell  Lots  of  the  Hot 
Springs  Reservation— Twelve  Years  in  the 
Land  Service  of  the  United  States. 

CHAPTER  XX 223 

My  Appointment  as  U.  S.  Consul  to  Tamatave, 
Madagascar— My  Arrival  in  France  En  Route 


CONTEXTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

to  Paris — Called  oil  Ambassador  Porter  and 
Consul  Gowdy  Relative  to  My  "Exequator"— 
Visited  the  Louvre,  the  Famous  Gallery  of 
Paintings— "Follies  Bergere,"  or  Variety 
Theater — The  "Dome  des  Invalids"  or  the 
Tomb  of  the  Great  Napoleon— Mrs.  Mason,  of 
Arkansas  and  Washington,  in  Paris— Mar 
seilles  and  "Hotel  du  Louvre"— Embarkation 
on  French  Ship  "Pie  Ho"  for  Madagascar — 
Scenes  and  Incidents  En  Route— "Port  Said"— 
Visit  to  the  "Mosque,"  Mohammedan  Place  of 
Worship. 

CHAPTER  XXI 236 

Si~:  ex  Canal — The  Red  Sea — Pharaoh  and  His 
Hosts— Their  Waterloo— Children  of  Israel- 
Travel  by  Sea— Arrival  and  Lauding  at  Mada 
gascar—Bubonic  Plague— My  Letter  From 
Madagascar. 

CHAPTER  XXII 250 

Island  of  Madagascar— Origin  and  Character 
of  the  Inhabitants— Their  Religion  and  Super 
stitions — Physical  Appearance  of  Madagas 
car — A  Word  Painting  of  Antananarivo,  the 
Capital,  by  Cameron— Forms  of  Government- 
Queens  of  Madagascar— Slavery  and  Forced 
Labor. 

CHAPTER  XXIII 265 

Introduction  of  the  Christian  Religion— Print 
ing  the  Bible,  Edict  by  Queen  Ranavakma 
Against  It— The  New  Religion  "a  Cloth  of  a 
Pattern  She  Did  Not  Like"— Asked  the  Mis 
sionaries,  "('MII  You  Make  Soap?"— "Dark 
Days" — Persecutions  and  Executions  for  a 
Quarter  of  a  Century— Examples  of  Christian 
Martyrs— Death  of  Queen  Ranavalona — Perma 
nent  Establishment  of  the  Christian  Religion- 
Self-denial  and  Heroic  Service  of  the  Roman 
Catholics— Native  Race  Protection  Commit 
tee— Forced  Labor  Abolished. 

CHAPTER  XXIV 282 

Cuba  and  the  Philippines— Their  Acquisition 
Under  the  Plea  of  Relief  From  Spanish  Mis 
rule— Aguinaldo.  Leader  of  the  Filipinos— The 
Fidelity  and  Bravery  of  llie  American  Negro 
in  the  Spanish  War-  Attestation  by  Many  Wit 
nesses—  I ndu:*trial  Education— Othello's  Occu 
pation  Cone  When  Polls  are  Closed. 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XXV 298 

Opposition  Possibly  Beneficent— President  Mc- 
Kinley's  Order  for  Enlistment  of  Colored  Sol- 
diers— General  Grosvenor's  Tribute— Fifteen 
Thousand  in  the  Spanish  War— U.  S.  Supreme 
Court  vs.  The  Negro— The  Basis  of  Congres 
sional  Representation. 

CHAPTER  XXVI 306 

Departure  from  Madagascar— Memories^— Gov 
ernor  General's  Farewell  Letter— Madagascar 
Branch  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute— Wild 
Animals,  a  Consul's  Burden— Descriptive  Let 
ter  to  State  Department. 

CHAPTER  XXVII 312 

Leave-taking,  its  Jollity  and  Sadness— Arrival 
at  Camp  Aden,  Arabia— An  Elysium  for  the 
Toper— Whisky  Was  Plenty,  But  the  Water 
Was  Out— Pleasant  Visit  to  U.  S.  Consul  Cun 
ningham,  of  Knoxville,  Tenn.— Arrival  at 
Suez— My  Visit  to  the  U.  S.  Cruiser  "New 
York"— The  Urbanity  of  Captain  Rogers- 
Suez  Canal— Port  Said— "Mai  de  Mer"— Mar 
seilles  to  Paris—Across  the  English  Channel  to 
London. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 320 

My  First  Visit  to  the  Land  of  Wilberforce 
and  Clarkson— Excursion  on  the  Thames- 
Bank  of  England— Visited  To\vers  of  London— 
Beauchamp  Tower  WTith  Its  Sad  Inscriptions- 
Arrival  at  New  York— National  Negro  Busi 
ness  Men's  League  Convention  at  Chicago — 
Booker  T.  Washington  President— Many  Tal 
ented  Business  Men  in  Attendance 

CHAPTER  XXIX 327 

Visit  to  President  McKiuley  at  Canton,  Ohio— 
His  Assassination  at  Buffalo— The  Assassin 
Struck  Down  by  James  Parker— President's 
Death— The  Nation  in  Tears— A  Christian 
Statesman— A  Lover  of  Justice— Crucial 
Epochs  of  Our  Country's  History,  the  Negro 
at  the  Fore. 

CHAPTER   XXX 336 

President  Roosevelt— His  Imperial  Honesty— 
Ex-Governor  Jones,  of  Alabama— Advance  of 
Justice  in  Our  Country— Status  a  Half-Cen 
tury  Ago — Theodore  Parker's  Arraignment- 
Eulogy  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 


>rj       •  T  , 
CONTENTS.  xv 

TAGE 

CHAPTER  XXXI 343 

Booker  T.  Washington  a  Guest  at  the  White 
House— Northern  and  Southern  Press  Com 
ments—The  Latter  Not  Typical  of  the  Best 
Element  of  Southern  Opinion. 

CHAPTER  XXXII 361 

Washington  City,  the  American  Mecca— 
Ante-room  at  the  White  House — The  Diary  of 
an  Office  Seeker — William,  the  Innocent — 
William,  the  Croker— Colored  People  of  the 
District  of  Columbia— Colored  Press  of  the  Dis 
trict. 

CHAPTER   XXXIII 269 

Howard  University— Public  Schools— R.  H. 
Terrell  Appointed  to  a  Judgship  of  the  Dis 
trict—Unlettered  Pioneers— Conclusions. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

1.  M.  AY.   Gibbs Frontispiece 

2.  Richard   Allen ° 

3.  Wm.    Lloyd    Garrison l» 

4.  Frederick  Douglass   

5.  Booker  T.   Washington 44 

6.  PL    M.    Turner 

7.  Geo.  H.  White oi* 

8.  J.    M.    Langs'ton. ™ 

9.  Abraham  Lincoln   <4 

10.  W.   B.   Derrick 

11.  Alexander  Walters    jj 

12.  H.  P.   Cheatham    jy4 

13.  Edward  E.  Cooper : |J? 

14.  Judson  Lyons   1-/5 

15.  Powell  Clayton    f 

16.  P.  B.  S.  Pinchback ™ 

17.  A.  11.   Garland   ^ 

18.  J.  A.  Booker    ™ 

19.  1.  G    Ish   

20.  J.  P.  Green  1 

21.  P.  L.  Dunbar  1 

22.  B.  K.  Bruce    204 

23.  T.  T.  Fortune 210 

24.  W.  A.  Pledger   220 

25.  John  C.  Dancey  228 

26.  Abram  Grant    253 

27.  J.  E.  Bush    263 

28.  J.  P.  Robinson    272 

29.  Martyrs   '. 274 

30.  Chester  W.  Keatts  284 

31.  J.  T.  Settle    294 

32.  Justice  Harlan   302 

33.  Charles  W.  Chestnut  312 

34.  William  McKinley 327 

35.  James  B.  Parker  331 

36.  President  Roosevelt    336 

37.  Secretary  Cortelyou    341 

38.  W.   Calvin  Chase    367 

39.  R,  H.  Terrill  .  .  .  370 


CHAPTER  I. 

In  the  old  family  Bible  I  see  it  recorded 
that  1  -was  born  April  IT,  1823,  in  Philadel 
phia,  Pa.,  the  sou  of  Jonathan  C.  (iibbs  and 
Maria,  his  wife.  My  father  was  a  minister 
in  the  Wesley  an  Methodist  Church,  my 
mother  a  " hard-shell'-  Baptist.  But  no  dif 
ference  of  religious  views  interrupted  the 
even  tenor  of  their  domestic  life.  At  seven 
years  of  age  I  was  sent  to  what  was  known 
as  the  Free  School,  those  schools  at  that 
time  invaluable  for  colored  youth,  had  not 
graded  studies,  systematized,  and  with 
such  accessories  for  a  fruitful  development 
of  the  youthful  mind  as  now  exist.  The 
teacher  of  the  school,  Mr.  Kennedy,  was  an 
Irishman  by  birth,  and  herculean  in  pro 
portions;  erudite  and  severely  positive  in 
enunciation.  The  motto  "Spare  the  rod 
and  spoil  the  child"  had  no  place  in  his  cur 
riculum.  Alike  with  the  tutors  of  the  deaf 
and  the  blind,  he  was  earnest  in  the  belief 
that  learning'  could  be  impressively  im 
parted  through  the  sense  of  feeling.  That 
his  manner  and  means  were  impressive  yon 
may  well  believe,  when  I  say  that  I  yet 
have  a  vivid  recollection  of  a  bucket  with 
an  inch  or  two  of  water  in  it  near  his  desk. 
In  it  stood  an  assortment  of  rattan  rods, 
their  size  when  selected  for  use  ranging  in 


4  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

tin'  ratio  of  the  enormity  of  the  offence  or 
the  age  of  the  offender. 

Among  the  many  sterling  traits  of  char 
acter  possessed  by  Mr.  Kennedy  was  econ 
omy;  the  frequent  use  of  the  rods  as  he 
raised  himself  on  tiptoe  to  make  his 
protest  the  more  emphatic — split  and 
frizzled  them — the  immersion  of  the 
tips  in  water  Avould  prevent  this,  and 
add  to  the  severity  of  the  castigation,  while 
diminishing-  the  expense.  A  policy  wiser 
and  less  drastic  has  taken  the  place  of  cor 
poral  punishment  in  schools.  But  Mr.  Ken 
nedy  was  competent,  faithful  and  im 
partial.  I  was  not  destined  to  remain  long 
at  school.  At  eight  years  of  age  two  events 
occurred  which  gave  direction  to  my  after 
life.  On  a  Sunday  in  April,  1831,  my  father 
desired  that  the  family  attend  his  church; 
we  did  so  and  heard  him  preach,  taking  as 
his  text  the  16th  verse  of  Chapter  37  in 
Genesis:  "I  seek  my  brethren;  tell  me,  I 
pray  thee,  where  they  feed  their  flocks." 

On  the  following  Sunday  he  lay  before 
the  pulpit  from  whence  he  had  preached, 
cold  in  death,  leaving  my  mother,  who  had 
poor  health,  with  four  small  children,  and 
little  laid  by  "for  a  rainy  day."  Unable  to 
remain  long  at  school,  I  was  "put  out"  to 
hold  and  drive  a  doctor's  horse  at  three 
dollars  a  month,  and  was  engaged  in  sim 
ilar  employment  until  I  reached  sixteen 
yejirs  of  age.  Of  the  loving  devotion  and 
self-sacrifice  of  an  invalid  mother  I  have 
not  words  to  express,  but:  certain  it  is,  that 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  .  5 

should  it  ever  appear  that  I  have  done  any 
thing  to  revere,  or  aught  to  emulate,  it 
should  be  laid  on  the  altar  of  her  Christian 
character,  her  ardent  love  of  liberty  and  in 
tense  aspiration  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 
race.  For  her  voice  and  example  was  an 
educator  along  all  the  lines  of  racial  prog 
ress. 

Needing  our  assistance  in  her  enfeebled 
condition,  she  nevertheless  insisted  that  my 
brother  and  myself  should  learn  the  car 
penter  trade.  At  this  period  in  the  career  of 
youth,  the  financial  condition  of  whose  pa 
rents  or  sponsors  is  unequal  to  their  further 
pursuit  of  scholastic  studies,  it  is  not  with 
out  an  anxious  solicitude  they  depart  from 
the  parental  roof.  For  the  correct  example 
and  prudent  advice  may  not  be  invulner- 
abel  to  the  temptation  for  illicit  pleasures 
or  ruinous  conduct.  Happy  will  he  be  who 
listens  to  the  admonitions  of  age.  Unfor 
tunately  by  the  action  of  response,  sad  in 
its  humor,  too  often  is:  I  like  the  advice 
but  prefer  the  experience. 

The  foundation  of  the  mechanical  knowl 
edge  possessed  by  the  Negro  was  laid  in  the 
Southern  States.  During  slavery  the  mas 
ter  selecting  those  with  natural  ability,  the 
most  apt,  with  white  foremen,  had  them 
taught  carpentering,  blacksmi  thing,  paint 
ing,  boot  and  shoe  making,  coopering,  and 
other  trades  to  utilize  on  the  plantations, 
or  add  to  their  value  as  property.  Many  of 
these  would  hire  themselves  by  the  year 
from  their  owners,  contract  on  their  own 


6  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

account,  and  by  thrift  purchase  their  free 
dom,  emigrate  and  tea'ch  colored  youths  of 
Northern  States,  where  prejudice  contin 
ues  to  exclude  them  from  the  workshops, 
while  at  the  South  the  substantial  ware 
house  and  palatial  dwelling  from  base  to 
dome,  is  often  the  creation  of  his  brain  and 
the  product  of  his  handiwork. 

James  Gibbons,  of  the  class  above  re 
ferred  to,  and  to  whom  Ave  Avere  appren 
ticed,  Avas  fat,  and  that  is  to  say,  he  was 
jolly.  He  had  ever  a  word  of  kind  encour 
agement,  Avise  counsel  or  assistance  to 
give  his  employees.  Harshness,  Avant  of 
sympathy  or  interest  is  often  the  precur 
sor  and  stimulator  to  the  many  troubles 
with  organized  labor  that  continue  to  par 
alyze  so  nmny  of  our  great  industrial  con 
cerns  at  the  present  time,  resulting  in  dis 
tress  to  the  one  and  great  material  loss  to 
the  other.  Mr.  Gibbons  had  but  a  lirilited 
education,  but  he  possessed  that  aptitude, 
energy,  and  efficiency  which  accomplishes 
great  objects,  that  men  call  genius,  and 
Avhich  is  ofttimes  nothing  more  than  un 
tiring  mental  activity  harnessed  to  inten 
sity  of  purpose.  These  constituted  his  grasp 
of  much  of  the  intricacies  of  mechanical 
knowledge.  His  example  AVUS  ever  in  evi 
dence,  by  word  and  action,  that  only  by  as- 
sidions  effort  could  young  men  hope  to 
succeed  in  the  battle  of  life. 

Mr.  Gibbons     was    competent    and    had 

large  patronage.    We  remained  with  him 

I   we  reached   our  majority.  During  a 

religious  revival  we  both  became  converted 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  7 

and  joined  the  Presbyterian  Church.  My 
brother  entered  Dartmouth  College,  under 
Hie  auspices  of  the  Presbyterian  Assembly, 
graduated  and  ministered  in  the  church  at 
Philadelphia.  After  a  brief  period  as  a 
journeyman,  I  became  a  contractor  and 
builder  on  my  own  account.  It  is  ever  a 
source  of  strength  for  a  young  person  to 
have1  faith  in  his  or  her  possibilities,  and  as 
soon  as  may  be,  assume  mastership. 

While  remaining  subject  to  orders,  the 
stimulus  is  lacking  for  that  aggressive 
energy,  indispensable  to  bring  to  the  front. 
Temporary  failure  you  may  have,  for -fail 
ure  lies  in  wait  for  all  human  effort,  but 
sneaks  from  a  wise  and  unconquerable  de 
termination.  We  read  of  the  military 
prisoner,  alone,  dejected,  and  despairing, 
looking  to  the  walls  of  his  cell;  he  watches 
a  score1  of  attempts  and  failure  of  a  spider 
to  scale  the  wall,  only  to  renew  an  attempt 
crowned  with  success.  The  lesson  was 
fruitful  for  the  prisoner. 

Mr.  Gibbons  built  several  of  the  colored 
chnrclies  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  the  early 
forties,  during  my  apprenticeship,  he  was 
a  bidder  for  the  contract  to  build  the  first 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  brick  church 
of  the  connection  on  the  present  site  at 
Sixth  and  Lombard  streets  in  Philadelphia. 
A  wooden  structure  which  had  been  trans 
formed  from  a  blacksmith  shop  to  a  meet 
ing  house  was  torn  down  to  give  place  to 
the  new  structure.  When  a  boy  I  had  often 
been  in  the  old  shop,  and  have  heard  the 
founder,  Bishop  Allen,  preach  in  the 


8  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

wooden  building.  He  was  much  reverenced. 
I  remember  his  appearance,  and  his  feeble, 
shambling  gait  as  he  approached  the  close 
of  an  illustrious  life. 

The  A.  M.  E.  Church  was  distinctively 
the  pioneer  in  the  career  of  colored 
churches;  its  founders  the  first  to  typify 
and  unflinchingly  assert  the  brotherhood  of 
man  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Dragged 
from  their  knees  in  the  white  churches  of 
their  faith,  they  met  exclusion  by  cohesion ; 
ignorance  by  effort  for  culture,  and  pov 
erty  by  unflinching  self-denial;  justice  and 
right  harnessed  to  such  a  movement,  who 
shall  declare  its  ultimatum. 

Out  from  that  blacksmith  shop  went  an 
inspiration  lifting  its  votaries  to  a  self- 
reliance  founded  on  God,  a  harbinger  of 
hope  to  the  enslaved. 

From  Allen  to  Payne,  and  on  and  on 
along  lines  of  Christian  fame,  its  mission 
aries  going  from  triumph  to  triumph  in 
America,  and  finally  planting  its  standard 
on  the  isles  of  the  sea. 

A  distinct  line  is  ever  observable  between 
civilization  and  barbarism,  in  the  regard 
and  reverence  for  the  dead,  the  increase  of 
solicitude  is  evidence  of  a  people's  advance 
ment.  Until  the  year  1848  the  colored  peo 
ple  of  Philadelphia  used  the  grounds,  al 
ways  limited,  in  the  rear  of  their  churches 
for  burial.  They  necessarily  became  crowd 
ed,  with  sanitary  conditions  threatening, 
without  opportunity  to  fittingly  mark  and 
adorn  the  last  resting  place  of  their  dead. 


RIGHT  REV.   RICHARD 

First  Bishop  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church. 

Founder  of  that  Faith  That  Once  Nestled  in  a  Blacksmith  Shop,  But  Now 
Bncircles  the  World. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  9 

In  the  above  year  G.  W.  Gaines,  J.  P. 
Humphries,  and  the  writer  purchased  a 
tarict  of  land  on  the  north  side  of  Lancaster 
turnpike,  in  West  Philadelphia,  and  were 
incorporated  under  the  following  act  by  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania: 
"An  Act  to  incorporate  the  Olive  Cemetery 
Company,-'  followed  by  the  usual  reserva 
tions  and  conditions  in  such  cases  provided. 
Among  reasons  inducing  me  to  refer  to  this 
are,  first,  to  give  an  idea  of  the  propriety 
and  progress  of  the  race  fifty  years  ago,  and 
secondly,  for  the  further  and  greater  rea 
sons,  as  the  following  will  show,  that  the 
result  of  the  project  was  not  only  a  palla 
dium  for  blessed  memory  of  the  dead,  but 
was  the  nucleus  of  a  benefaction  that  still 
blesses  the  living. 

The  land  was  surveyed  and  laid  out  in 
lots  and  avenues,  plans  of  gothic  design 
were  made  for  chapel  and  superintendent's 
residence,  and  contract  for  construction 
wras  awarded  the  writer.  The  project  was 
not  entirely  an  unselfish  one,  but  profit 
was  not  the  dominating  incentive.  After 
promptly  completing  the  contract  with  the 
shareholders  as  to  buildings  and  improve 
ments  of  the  ground,  the  directors  found 
themselves  in  debt,  and  welcomed  the  ad 
vent  of  Stephen  Smith,  a  wealthy  colored 
man  and  lumber  merchant,  to  assist  in 
liquidating  liabilities,  To  him  an  unoccu 
pied  portion  of  the  ground  was  sold,  and 
in  his  wife's  heart  the  conception  of  a 
bounteous  charity  was  formed.  The  "Old 


10  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

Folks'  Home,"  so  beneficent  to  the  aged 
poor  of  Philadelphia,  demands  more  than 
a  passing  notice. 

"The  Harriet  Smith  Home  for  Aged  and 
Infirm  Colored  Persons''  is  a  continuation 
of  a  charity  organized  September,  18(>4, 
and  the  first  board  of  managers  (a  noble 
band  of  humanitarians)  elected.  The  pre 
amble  was  as  follows:  "For  the  relief  of 
that  worthy  class  of  colored  persons  who 
have  endeavored  through  life  to  maintain 
themselves,  but  who,  from  various  causes, 
are  finally  depend  en  t  on  the  charity  of 
others,  an  association  is  hereby  organized." 
The  work  of  this  home  was  conducted  in  a 
largo  dwelling  house  on  South  Front  street 
until  the  year  1871,  when,  through  the 
munificence  of  Stephen  Smith  and  his  wife, 
the  land  on  the  corner  of  Relmont  and 
Girard  avenues,  previously  purchased  from 
the  Olive  Cemetery  Company,  together 
with  a  large  four-story  building,  valued  at 
f  40,000,  was  given  to  the  Board.  In 
1871  it  was  opened  as  the  "Harriet  Smith 
Home,"  where  it  still  stands  as  an  endur 
ing  monument  to  the  original  donors,  and 
other  blessed  friends  of  the  race,  who  have 
continued  to  assist  with  generous  endow 
ments.  Edward  T.  Parker,  who  died  in 
1SS7,  gave  |85,000  for  an  annex  to  the 
building.  Colored  people  since  its  in- 
eipiency  have  given  |200,000.  The  board  is 
composed  of  white  and  colored  persons. 
On  a  recent  visit  I  found  the  home  com 
plete,  convenient,  and  cleanly  in  all  its  a])- 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  11 

purtenances,  with  an  air  of  'comfort  and 
contentment  pervading  tlie  place.  From 
many  with  bent  and  decrepit  bodies,  from 
wrinkled  and  withered  faces,  the  sparkling 
eve  of  gratitude  could  be  seen,  and  prayer 
of  thankfulness  read;  for  this  product  of  a 
benign  clemency  that  had  blessed  both 
the  giver  and  receiver.  There  can  be  no  one 
with  filial  affection  happy  in  the  thought 
that  it  is  in  their  power  to  assuage  the 
p'ain  or  assist  the  tottering  steps  of  their 
own  father  or  mother,  but  will  recognize 
the  humanity,  Christian  character,  and  un 
selfishness  of  the  men  and  women  organ 
ized  for  giving  the  helping  hand  to  the 
"unfortunate  aged,  made  dependent  by 
blameless  conditions.-' 

During  my  apprenticeship,  aware  of  my 
educational  deficiencies,  having  been  un 
able  to  pursue  a  consecutive  course  of  study 
in  earlier  life,  I  spent  much  of  the  night  and 
odd  times  in  an  endeavor  to  make  up  the 
loss.  Tn  joining  the  Philadelphia  Library 
Company,  a  literary  society  of  colored  men, 
containing  men  of  such  mental  caliber  as 
Isaiah  C.  Wear,  Frederick  Hinton,  Robert 
Purvis,  .T.  P.  Bowers,  and  others,  where 
questions  of  moment  touching  the  condi 
tion  of  the  race  were  often  discussed  with 
acumen  and  eloquence,  I  was  both  bene 
fited- and  stimulated.  It  was  a  needed 
help,  for  man  is  much  the  creature  of  his 
environments,  and  what  widens  his  horizon 
as  to  the  inseparable  relations  of  man  to 
man  and  the  mutuality  of  obligation, 


12  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

strengthens  his  manhood  in  the  ratio  he 
embraces  opportunity. 

Pennsylvania  being  a  border  State,  and 
Philadelphia  situated  so  near  the  line 
separating  the  free  and  slave  States,  that 
city  was  utilized  as  the  most  important  ad 
junct  or  way-station  of  the  "underground 
railroad,"  an  organization  to  assist  run 
away  slaves  to  the  English  colony  of  Can 
ada.  Say  what  you  will  against  old  Eng 
land,  for,  like  all  human  polity,  there  is 
much  for  censure  and  criticism,  but  this  we 
know,  that  when  there  were  but  few 
friends  responsive,  and  but  few  arnrs  that 
offered  to  succor  when  hunted  at  home, 
old  England  threw  open  her  doors,  reached 
out  her  hand,  and  bid  the  wandering  fugi 
tive  slave  to  come  in  and  "be  of  good 
cheer." 

As  one  of  the  railroad  company  men 
tioned,  many  cases  came  under  my  observa 
tion,  and  some  under  my  guidance  to  safety 
in  Canada.  One  of  the  most  peculiar  and 
interesting  ones  that  came  under  by  notice 
and  attention,  was  that  of  William  and  El 
len  Craft,  fugitives  from  the  State  of  Geor 
gia.  Summoned  one  day  to  a  colored  board 
ing  house,  I  w^as  presented  to  a  person 
dressed  in  immaculate  black  broadcloth 
and  silk  beaver  hat,  whom  I  supposed  to  be 
a  young  white  man.  By  his  side  stood  a 
young  colored  man  with  good  features  and 
rather  -commanding  presence.  The  first 
was  introduced  to  me  as  Mrs.  Craft  and  the 
other  as  her  husband,  two  escaped  slaves. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  13 

They  had  traveled  through  on  car  and  boat, 
paying  and  receiving  first-class  accommo 
dations.  Mrs.  Craft,  being  fair,  assumed 
the  habit  of  young  master  coming  north  as 
an  invalid,  and  as  she  had  never  learned  to 
write,  her  arm  was  in  a  sling,  thereby 
avoiding  the  usual  signing  of  register  on 
boat  or  at  hotel,  while  her  servant-husband 
was  as  obsequious  in  his  attentions  as  the 
most  humble  of  slaves.  They  settled  in 
Boston,  living  very  happily,  until  the  pas 
sage  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  in  1850,  when 
they  were  compelled  to  flee  to  England. 

The  civil  war  of  1861  and  proclamation 
of  freedom  followed.  In  1870,  ariving  in 
Savannah,  Georgia,  seeking  accommoda 
tion,  I  was  directed  to  a  hotel,  and  sur 
prised  to  find  the  host  and  hostess  my 
whilom  friends  of  underground  railroad 
fame.  They  had  returned  to  their  old  home 
after  emancipation.  The  surprise  was  pleas 
ant  and  recognition  mutual. 

One  other,  and  I  shall  pass  this  feature 
of  reminiscence.  It  was  that  of  William 
Brown,  distinguished  afterward  as  Wil 
liam  Box  Brown,  the  intervening  "Box"  be 
ing  a  synonym  of  the  manner  of  his  escape. 
A  n  agent  of  the  underground  railroad  at 
Richmond,  Virginia,  had  placed  him  in  a 
box  two  feet  wide  and  four  feet  long,  ends 
hooped,  with  holes  for  air,  and  bread  and 
water,  and  sent  him  through  the  express 
company  to  Philadelphia.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  steamboat  the  box  was  roughly 
tumbled  off  as  so  inncli  dead  frieght  on  the 


14  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

wharf,  but,  unfortunately  for  Brown,  on  the 
end,  with  his  feet  up  and  head  down.  After 
remaining  in  such  position  for  a  time  which 
seemed  to  him  hours,  he  heard  a  man  say 
to  another,  "Let's  turn  that  box  down  and 
sit  on  it."  It  was  done,  and  Brown  found 
himself  "right  side  up,"  if  not  "with  care." 
1  was  called  to  the  anti-slavery  office,  where 
the  box  was  taken.  It  had  been  arranged 
that  when  he  arrived  at  his  destination, 
three  slow  and  distinct  knocks  should  be 
given,  to  which  he  was  to  respond.  Fear 
that  he  was  crippled  or  dead  was  depicted 
in  the  faces  of  Miller  McKim,  William  Still 
and  a  few  others  that  stood  around  the  box 
in  the  office.  Hence  it  was  not  without  tre 
pidation  the  agreed  signal  was  given,  and 
the  response  waited  for.  An  "all  right" 
was  cheerily  given;  the  lifting  of  suspense 
and  the  top  of  the  box  was  almost  simul 
taneous.  Out  sprang  a  man  weighing  near 
200  pounds.  Brown,  though  uneducated,  it 
is  needless  to  say,  was  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  and  with  much  natural 
ability,  with  his  box  he  traveled  and  spoke 
of  his  experience  in  slavery,  the  novelty  of 
his  escape  adding  interest  to  his  descrip 
tion.  Many  similar  cases  of  heroism  in 
manner  of  escape  of  men  and  women  are 
recorded  in  William  Still's  "Underground 
Railroad." 


SHADOW   AND    LIGHT.  15 


CHAPTEK  II. 

The  immortal  bard  has  sung  that  "there's 
a  destiny  that  shapes  our  ends."  At  eight 
years  of  age,  as  already  stated,  two  events 
occurred  which  had  much  to  do  in  giving 
direction  to  my  after  life.  The  one  the 
death  of  my  father,  as  formerly  mentioned; 
the  other  the  insurrection  of  Nat  Turner,  of 
South  Hampton,  'Virginia,  in  August,  1831, 
which  fell  upon  tin1  startled  sense  of  the 
slaveholding  South  like  a  meteor  from  a 
clear  sky,  causing  widespread  commotion. 
Nat  Turner  was  a  Baptist  preacher,  who 
with  four  others,  in  a  lonely  place  in  the 
woods,  concocted  plans  for  an  uprising  of 
the  slaves  to  secure  their  liberty.  Em 
ployed  in  the  woods  during  the  week,  a 
prey  to  his  broodings  over  the  wrongs  and 
cruelties,  the  branding  and  whipping  to 
death  of  neighboring  slaves,  he  would  come 
out  to  meetings  of  his  people  on  Sunday 
and  preach,  impressing  much  of  his  spirit  of 
unrest.  Finally  he  selected  a  large  num 
ber  of  confederates,  who  were  to  secretly 
acquire  arms  of  their  masters.  The  attack 
concocted  in  February  was  not  made  until 
August.  20,  when  the  assault,  dealing  death 
and  destruction,  was  made1. 


16  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

All  that  night  they  marched,  carrying' 
consternation  and  dread  on  account  of  the 
suddenness,  determination  and  boldness  of 
the  a  tack.  The  whole  State  was  aroused, 
and  soldiers  sent  from  every  part.  The 
blacks  fought  hand  to  hand  with  the 
whites,  but  were  soon  overpowered  by 
numbers  and  superior  implements  of  war 
fare.  Turner  and  a  few  of  his  followers  took 
refuge  in  the  "Dismal  Swamp,1'  almost  im 
penetrable,  where  they  remained  two  or 
three  months,  till  hunger  or  despair  com 
pelled  them  to  surrender.  Chained  to 
gether,  they  were  taken  to  the  South 
Hampton  Court  House  and  arraigned. 
Turner,  it  is  recorded,  without  a  tremor, 
pleaded  not  guilty,  believing  that  he 
was  justified  in  the  atempt  to  lib 
erate  his  people,  however  drastic  the 
means.  His  act,  which  would  have  been 
heralded  as  the  noblest  heroism  if  perpe 
trated  by  a  white  man,  was  called  religious 
fanatacism  and  fiendish  brutality. 

Turner  called  but  few  into  his  confidence, 
and  foolhardy  and  unpromising  as  the  at 
tempt  may  have  been,  it  had  the  ring  of  an 
heroic  purpose  that  gave  a  Bossarius  to 
<Jree»ce,  and  a  Washington  to  America,  A 
purpose  "not  born  to  die,"  but  to  live  on  in 
every  age  and  clime,  stimulating  endeavors 
to  attain  the  blessings  of  civil  liberty. 

It  was  an  incident  as  unexpected  in  its 
advent  as  startling  in  its  terrors.  Slavery, 
«-ver 1  lie  preponderance  of  force,  had  hither 
to  reveled  in  a  luxury  heightened  by  a 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  17 

souse  of  security.  Now,  in  the  moaning  of 
the  wind,  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  or  the 
shadows  of  the  moon,  was  heard  or  seen  a 
liberator.  Nor  was  this  uneasiness  con- 
lined  to  the  South,  for  in  the  border  free 
States  there  were  many  that  in  whole  or  in 
part  owned  plantations  stocked  Avith 
slaves. 

In  Philadelphia,  so  near  the  line,  excite 
ment  ran  high.  The  intense  interest  de 
picted  in  the  face  of  my  mother  and  her 
colored  neighbors;  the  guarded  whisper 
ings,  the  denunciations  of  slavery,  the  hope 
defeated  of  a  successful  revolution  keenly- 
affected  my  juvenile  mind,  and  stamped 
my  soul  with  hatred  to  slavery. 

At  12  years  of  age  1  was  employed  at  the 
residence  of  Sydney  Fisher,  a  prominent 
Philadelphia  lawyer,  who  was  one  of  the 
class  above  mentioned,  living  north  and 
owning  a  plantation  in  the  State  of  Mary 
land.  Over  a  good  road  of  30  miles  one 
summer's  day,  he  took  me  to  his  plantation. 
I  had  never  before  been  that  distance  from 
home  and  had  anticipated  my  long  ride 
with  childish  interest  and  pleasure.  After 
crossing  the  line  and  entering  "the  land  of 
cotton  and  the  corn,"  a  new  and  strange 
panorama  began  to  open,  and  continued  to 
enfold  the  vast  fields  bedecked  in  the  snowy 
whiteness  of  their  fruitage.  While  over 
gangs  of  slaves  in  row  and  furrough  were 
drivers  with  their  scourging  whip  in  hand. 
I  looked  upon  the  scene  with  curious  won 
der.  Three  score  of  vears  and  more  have 


18  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

passed,  but  I  still  see  that  sad  and  humbled 
throng,  working  close  to  the  roadway,  no 
head  daring  to  uplift,  no  eye  to  enquiringly 
gaze.  During  all  those  miles  of  drive  that 
bordered  on  plantations,  as  machines  they 
acted,  as  machines  they  looked.  My 
curiosity  and  youthful  impulse  ignoring 
that  reticence  becoming  a  servant,  I  said: 
"Mr.  Fisher,  who  are  these  people ?"  He 
said,  "They  are  slaves."  I  was  startled  but 
made  no  reply.  I  had  not  associated  the  ex 
hilaration  of  the  drive  with  a  depressing 
view  of  slavery,  but  his  reply  caused  a  tu 
mult  of  feeling  in  my  youthful  breast.  The 
Turner  episode  of  which  I  had  heard  so 
much,  The  narratives  of  whippings  re 
ceived  by  fugitives,  slaves  that  had 
come  to  my  mother's  house,  the  sun 
dering  of  family  ties  on  the  auction 
block,  were  vividly  presented  to  my 
mind.  I  remained  silent  as  to  speech,  as 
to  feelings  belligerent.  A  few  moments 
elapsed  and  Mr.  Fisher  broke  the  silence 
by  saying,  "Mifflin,  how  would  you  like  to 
be  a  slave?"  My  answer  was  quick  and 
conformed  to  feeling.  "I  would  not  be  a 
slave!  1  would  kill  anybody  that  would 
make  me  a  slave!"  Fitly  spoken.  No 
grander  declaration  T  have  ever  made.  But 
from  whom  did  it  come — from  almost  child 
ish  lips  with  no  power,  to  execute.  I  little 
thought  of  or  knew  the  magnitude  of  that 
utterance,  nor  did  I  notice  then  the  effect 
of  its  foive.  Quickly  and  quite  sternly 
came  the  reply:  "'You  must  not  talk  that 


WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

"The  Groat  Liberator." 

'I   Will  not  Excuse.   I  Will   Not  Retreat  a   Single  Inch;    I    Will    Be     Heard' 
••Emancipation  the  Right  of  the  Slave  and  Duty  of  the  Master" — "He 
Made  Every   Single  Home,    Press,   I'u'.pit,   and  Senate  Cham 
ber  a  Debating  Society  with  His  Right  and 
Wrong  for  the  Subject." 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  19 

way  down  here."  I  was  kept  during  our 
stay  in  what  was  known  during  slavery 
as  "  the  "great  house,"  the  master's  resi 
dence,  and  my  meals  were  eaten  at  the 
table  he  had  quit,  slept  in  the  same  house, 
and  had,  if  desired,  little  or  no  opportunity 
to  talk  or  mingle  with  the  slaves  during 
the  week's  visit.  I  did  not  understand  at 
that  time  the  philosophy  of  espionage,  but 
in  after  years  it  became  quite  apparent  that 
from  my  youthful  lips  had  came  the  "open 
sesame  to  the  door  of  liberty,"  "resistance 
to  oppression,"  the  slogan  that  has  ever 
heralded  the  advent  of  freedom. 

As  I  passed  to  manhood  the  object  lesson 
encountered  on  the  Maryland  plantation 
did  much  to  intensify  my  hatred  of  slavery 
and  to  strengthen  my  resolution  to  ally  my 
self  with  any  effort  for  its  abolition.  The 
burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  by  a  mob  in 
Philadelphia,  in  1838,  built  and  used  by 
anti-slavery  people,  the  ravages  of  what 
was  known  as  the  "Moyamensing  Killers," 
who  burned  down  the  churches  and  resi 
dences  of  the  colored  people  and  murdered 
their  occupants,  did  much  to  increase  the 
anti-slavery  feeling. 

Old  Bethel  Church,  then  the  nursery  of 
the  present  great  A.  M.  E.  Church,  was 
guarded  day  and  night  by  its  devoted  men 
and  women  worshipers.  The  cobble  street 
pavement  in  front  was  dug  up  and  the 
stones  carried  up  and  placed  at  the 
windows  in  the  gallery  to  hurl  at  the  mob. 
This  defense  was  sustained  for  several 


20  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

weeks  at  a  time.  Every  American  should 
be  happy  in  the  thought  that  a  higher  civi 
lization  is  making  such  acts  less  and  less 
frequent.  It  is  not  strange  that  our  pres 
ent  generation  enjoying  a  large  measure  of 
civil  and  political  liberty  can  but  faintly 
comprehend  the  condition  fifty  years  ago, 
when  they  were  persistently  denied.  The 
justice  of  participation  seems  so  apparent, 
it  is  not  easy  to  fully  conceive,  when  all 
were  refused,  in  quite  all  that  were  de 
nominated  free  States. 

When  street  cars  were  first  established 
in  Philadelphia  "the  brother  in  black"  was 
refused  accommodations.  He  nevertheless 
persisted  in  entering  the  cars.  Sometimes 
he  would  be  thrown  out,  at  others,  after  be 
ing  "sized  up"  the  driver  with  his  horses 
\vould  leave  his  car  standing  on  switch, 
while  its  objectionable  occupant  was 
"monarch  of  all  he  surveyed." 

The  "man  and  brother"  finding  his  enemy 
impervious  to  direct  attack,  commenced  a 
flank  movement.  As  he  was  not  allowed  to 
ride  inside,  he  resolved  to  ride  alongside; 
bought  omnibuses  and  stock  and  establish 
ed  a  line  on  the  car  route  at  reduced  rates. 
The  cars  were  not  always  on  time,  and 
many  whites  would  avail  themselves  of  its 
service.  I  remember  one  of  this  class  accost 
ing  a  driver:  "What  'Bus  is  this?"  The  sim 
ple  driver  answered,  "It  is  the  colored  peo 
ples!"  "I  don't  care  whose  in  the  -  -  it 
is,  does  it  go  to  the  bridge?  I  am  in  a  hurry 
to  get  there,"  and  in  he  got.  I  thought  then 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  21 

and  still  think  what  a  useful  moral  the  inci 
dent  Conveyed  to  iny  race.  Labor  to  make 
yourself  as  indispensable  as  possible  in  all 
your  relations  with  the  dominant  race  and 
color  will  cut  less  and  less  figure  in  your  up 
ward  grade.  The  line  was  kept  up  for  some 
time,  often  holding  what  was  called  "omni 
bus  meetings"  in  our  halls,  always  largely 
attended,  make  reports,  hear  spirited 
speeches,  and  have  a  deal  of  fun  narrating 
incidents  of  the  line,  receiving  generous 
contributions  when  the  horses  or  busses 
needed  replenishing.  But  the  most  excit 
ing  times  were  those  when  there  had  been 
interference  with  the  running  of  the  "un 
derground  railroad,"  and  the  attempt  to 
capture  passengers  in  transit,  or  at  the  dif 
ferent  way-stations,  of  which  as  previously 
stated,  Philadelphia  was  the  most  promi 
nent  in  forwarding  its  patrons  to  Canada. 
Before  the  passage  of  the  fugitive  slave 
law,  in  1850,  if  the  fugitive  was  taken  back 
it  was  done  by  stealth — kidnapped  and 
spirited  away  by  clandestine  means.  Some 
times  by  the  treachery  of  his  own  color,  but 
this  was  seldom  and  unhealthy.  The  agent 
of  the  owner  was  often  caught  in  the  act, 
and  by  argument  more  emphatic  than  gen 
tle,  was  soon  conspicuous  by  his  absence. 
At  others  local  anti-slavery  Mends  would 
appeal  to  the  courts,  and  the  agent  would 
be  arrested.  Slavery  in  law  being  local  be 
fore  the  passage  of  the  "Act  of  1850,"  mak 
ing  it  national,  we  were  generally  success 
ful  in  having  the  fugitives  released. 


22  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

We  were  extremely  fortunate  in  having  for~ 
our  chief  counsel  David  Paul  Brown,  a 
leader  of  the  Philadelphia  bar,  who,  with 
other  white  friends,  never  failed  to  respond 
to  our  call;  learned  in  Constitutional  law, 
eloquent  in  expression,  he  did  a  yeoman's 
service  in  behalf  of  liberty. 

The  colored  men  of  Pennsylvania,  like 
their  brethren  in  other  Northern  States, 
were  not  content  in  being  disfranchised.  As 
early  as  1845  a  committee  of  seven,  consist 
ing  of  Isaiah  C.  Wear,  J.  C.  Bowers,  and 
others,  including  the  writer,  were  sent  to 
the  capitol  at  Harrisburg  to  lay  a  petition 
before  the  Legislature  asking  for  enfran 
chisement  and  all  rights  granted  to  others 
of  the  commonwealth.  The  grant  was 
tardy,  but  it  came  Avith  the  cannon's  boon* 
and  musketry's  iron  hail,  when  the  im 
periled  status  of  the  nation  made  it  impera 
tive.  Thus,  as  ever,  with  the  immutable  de 
crees  of  God,whilebattling  for  the  freedom 
of  the  slave,  we  broadened  our  conscious 
ness,  not  only  as  to  the  inalienable  rights 
of  human  nature,  but  received  larger  con 
ceptions  of  civil  liberty,  coupled  with  a 
spirit  of  determination  to  defend  our  homes 
and  churches  from  infuriated  mobs,  and  to 
contend  for  civil  and  political  justice. 

They  were  truly  a  spartan  band,  the 
colored  men  and  women.  The  naming  of  a 
few  would  be  invidious  to  the  many  who 
were  ever  keenly  alive  to  the  proscription 
to  which  they  were  subject,  and  ever  on  the 


SHADOW  AM)   LIGHT.  23 

alert  for  measures  to  awaken,    the     moral 
sense  of  the  border  States. 

Meeting's  were  nightly  held  for  counsel, 
protests  and  assistance  to  the  fugitive, 
who  would  sometimes  be  present  to  narrate 
the  woes  of  slavery.  Sometimes  our  meet 
ings  would  be  attended  by  pro-slavery  look 
ers-on,  usually  unknown,  until  excoriation 
of  the  Northern  abettors  of  slavery  was  too 
severe  to  allowr  them  to  remain  incognito, 
when  they  would  reply:  It  is  a  sad  com 
mentary  on  a  phase  of  human  nature  that 
the  oppressed  often,  when  vaulted  into  au 
thority  or  greater  equality  of  condition,  be 
come  the  most  vicious  of  oppressors.  It 
has  been  said  that  Negro  drivers  were  most 
cruel  and  unsparing  to  their  race.  The 
Irish,  having  fled  from  oppression  in  the 
land  of  their  birth,  for  notoriety,  gain,  or 
elevation  by  comparison,  were  nearly  all 
pro-slavery.  At  one  of  our  meetings  dur 
ing  the  narration  of  incidents  of  his  life  by 
a  fugitive,  lone1  of  the  latter  class  interrupted 
by  saying,  "Aren't  you  lying,  my  man?  I 
have  been  on  plantations.  I  guess  your 
master  did  not  lose  much  when  you  left." 
Now,  it  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  uneducated, 
when,  puzzled  for  the  moment,  by  the  tar 
diness  of  an  idea,  to  scratch  the  head.  Ja 
cobs,  the  fugitive,  did  so,  and  out  it  came. 
"I  dunno  how  much  he  lost,  only  what 
master  said.  I  w^as  the  house  boy,  one  day, 
and  at  dinner  time  he  sent  me  to  the  well 
to  get  a  cool  pitcher  of  water.  I  let  the 
silver  pitcher  drop  in  the  well.  Well,  I 


24:  N  SHADOW  AM>  i.uniT. 

kuowed  that  piu-her  had  to  !»<•  uni 
out.  so  I  straddled  down  and  iished 
it  up.  Masu-r  was  mad.  Yause  1 
si  aid  so  l-.»ng,  so  I  up  and  tolls  him. 
He  fairly  jumped  and  said  "1M»1  you  oo 
down  that  well?  Why  didn't  you  come 
and  tell  me  ami  I  would  made  Irish  Mike, 
the  ditcher,  iro  down.  If  you  had  droAvned 
I'd  lost  fSoO.  Don't  you  do  that  agin." 

It  is  ii  -Hess  to  say  that  this  "brought 
down  the  house,"  and  shortly  the  exit  of  the 
son  of  the  Emerald  Isle.  At  another  time 
the  inten  npter  said:  "Will  you  answer  me 
a  question  «»r  two?  Did  you  not  1:1-1  enouorh 
to  eat?"  -Yes."  "A  place  to  sleep?"  -  V 
"Was  your  master  good  or  bad  to  you?" 
"Marster  v  as  pn^tty  «sood.  I  must  say." 
"Well,  wh;u  else  did  you  want?  That  is  a 
uood  deal  more  than  a  £ood  many  white 
men  uet  up  here."  The  man  stood  for  a  mo 
ment  bus  with  his  thurers  in  a  fruitless  at 
tempt  to  :  .  i  the  fugitive  ends  of  a  curl  of 
his  hair.  inporarily  nonplussed  at  his 
palliating  'luessions.  half  apologetically 
said:  "\\  .1  think  it  a  heap  brst  to  be 
free."  Then  suddenly  and  gallantly 
strengthening  his  defense:  "but,  look  here. 
Mister,  it*  you  think  it  ^o  nice  down"  there, 
my  place  is  still  open."  The  questioner 
|  d  natnredly  joined  in  the  general  merri 
ment. 

Very  frequently  we  were  enthused  and 
inspired  by  Frederick  Douglass.  Henry 
Highland  Garnett.  Marten  R.  Delaney.  and 
Tharles  1..  K.-inon«l.  an  illustrious  quartet 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  25 

of  the  hallowed  band  in  the  anti-slavery 
crusade,  whose  eloquence,  devotion,  and  ef 
fectiveness  stood  unsurpassed. 

There  were  few,  if  any,  available  halls  for 
these  meetings.  The  only  resort  wa,s  the 
colored  churches.  Those  under  the  auspices 
of  white  denominations  had  members  who 
objected  to  their  use  for  such  a  purpose. 
Craven  and  fawning,  content  with  the 
crumbs  that  fell  from  these  peace-loving 
Christians,  who  deprecated  the  discussion 
of  slavery  while  they  ignored  the  claim  of 
outraged  humanity,  these  churches  Avere 
more  interested  in  the  physical  excitement 
of  a  "revival"  than  in  listening  to  appeals 
in  behalf  of  God's  poor  and  lonely.  Their 
prototypes  that  "'passed  by  on  the  other 
side"  have  been  perpetuated  in  many 
climes,  in  those  who  believe  that  it  is  the 
formalities  of  contact  with  the  building 
that  blesses  a  people  and  not  the  Godliness 
and  humanity  of  the  worshippers  that  give 
glory  and  efficacy  to  the  church.  An  an 
tagonism  thus  created  resulted  in  a  crusade 
against  such  churches  styled  "Come-Outer- 
ism,"  and  many  left  them  on  account  of 
such  apathy  to  carry  on  the  warfare  amid 
congenial  association. 

It  has  been  said  that  citizenship  was  pre 
cipitated  upon  the  Negro  before  lie  was  fit 
for  its  exercise.  Without  discussing  the  in 
congruity  of  this,  when  applied  to  the  igno 
rant  native  Negro  and  not  to  the  ignorant 
alien  emigrant,  it  may  be  conceded  that 


26  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

keeping  them  in  abject  bondage  with  no  op 
portunity  to  protest,  made  slavery  any 
thing  but  a  preparatory  school  for  the  exer 
cises  of  civic  virtues,  or  the  assumption  of 
their  responsibilities.  It  was  not  true,  how 
ever,  with  the  mass  in  the  free,  or  many  in 
the  slave  States.  Always  akin  and  adjunct 
are  the  yearnings  indestructible  in  human 
nature  for  equal  rights.  And  in  every  age 
and  people  the  ratio  of  persistency  and 
sacrifice  have  been  the  measure  of  their  fit 
ness  for  its  enjoyment.  During  25  years 
preceding  the  abolition  of  slavery  the  color 
ed  people  of  the  free  States,  though  much 
proscribed,  were  active  in  their  protests 
against  enslavement,  seizing  every  chance 
through  press  and  forum  "to  pour  the  liv 
ing  coals  of  truth  upon  the  nation's  naked 
heart/'  setting  forth  in  earnest  contrast  the 
theory  upon  which  the  government  was 
founded  with  its  administration  as  prac 
ticed. 

In  1848  Philadelphia  Square,  whereon  the 
old  State  House  of  historic  fame  still 
stands,  was  made  resonant  by  the  bell  upon 
whose  surface  the  fathers  had  inscribed 
''Proclaim  liberty  throughout  the  world 
and  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,"  and 
was  bedecked  with  garlands  and  every  in 
signia  of  a  joyful  people  in  honor  of  the 
Hungarian  patriot,  Louis  Kossuth.  Dis 
tinctive  platforms  had  been  erected  for 
speakers  whose  fatherland  was  in  many 
foreign  lands.  Upon  each  was  an  orator  re 
ceiving  the  appreciation  and  plaudits  of  an 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  2T 

audience  whose  hearts  beat  as  one  for  suc 
cess  to  the  "Great  Liberator."  The  "un 
welcome  guests,77  the  colored  men  present, 
quickly  embraced  the  opportunity,  utilizing 
for  a  platform  a  dry  goods  box,  upon  which 
I  was  placed  to  give  the  Negro  version  of 
this  climax  of  inconsistency  and  quintes 
sence  of  hypocrisy.  This  was  the  unex 
pected.  All  the  people,  both  native  and 
foreign,  had  been  invited  and  special 
places  provided  for  all  except  the 
Negro,  and  on  the  native  platform 
he  was  not  allowed  space.  The  novel 
ty  of  the  incident  and  curiosity  to  hear  what 
the  colored  man  had  to  say  quickly  drew  a 
crowd  equal  to  others  of  the  occasion. 
Then,  as  now,  and  perhaps  forever,  there 
was  that  incalculable  number  of  non-com 
mittals  whose  moral  sense  is  disturbed  by 
popular  wrong,  but  who  are  without  cour 
age  of  conviction,  inert,  waiting  for  a  leader 
that  they  may  be  one  of  the  two  that  take- 
place  behind  him,  or  one  of  three  or  four,  or 
ten,  who  follow  in  serried  ranks,  that  con 
stitute  the  Avedge-like  motor  that  splits  as- 
sunder  hoary  wrong,  proximity  to  the- 
leader  being  in  ratio  to  their  moral  fibre. 
Most  of  the  audience  listened  to  the  utter 
ance  of  sentiments  that  the  allurements  of 
trade,  or  the  exactions  of  society,  forbade 
them  to  disseminate. 

The  occasion  was  an  excellent  one  to 
demonstrate  the  heartlessness  of  the 
projectors,  who,  while  pretending  to 
glorify  liberty  in  the  distance,  were- 


28  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

treating  it  with  contumely  at  home,  where 
3,000,000  slaves  were  held  in  bondage,  and 
feeling  keenly  the  ostracism  of  the  slave  as 
beyond  the  pole  of  popular  sympathy  or  na 
tional  compassion,  with  words  struggling 
for  utterance,!  spoke  as  best  I  could,  receiv 
ing  toleration,  and  a  quiet  measure  of  ap 
probation,  possibly  on  the  supposition, 
realized  in  the  fruition  of  time,  that  such 
discussion  might  eventuate  in  the  libera 
tion  of  white  men  from  the  octopus  of  sub 
serviency  to  the  dictum  of  slavery  which 
permeated  every  ramification  of  American 
society.  I  heard  Hon.  Cassius  M.  Clay,  of 
Kentucky,  sometime  in  the  forties,  while 
making  a  speech  in  Philadelphia,  say: 
"Gentlemen,  the  question  is  not  alone 
whether  the  Negroes  are  to  remain  slaves, 
but  whether  we  white  men  are  to  continue 
free."  80  bitter  was  the  onslaught  on  all, 
and  especially  on  white  men,  politically 
.and  socially,  who  dared  denounce  slavery. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  29 


CHAPTEK  III. 

An  event  that  came  under  my  notice  of 
startling  character,  attracting  national  at 
tention,  was  the  arrival  of  the  schooner 
"Amistad"  at  Philadelphia  in  1840.  This 
vessel  had  been  engaged  in  the  slave  trade. 
With  a  cargo  of  slaves  from  Africa  was 
destined  for  one  of  the  West  India  Islands. 
Cinguez,  one  of,  and  at  the  head  of  the  cap 
tives,  rebelled  while  at  sea,  killing  a  num 
ber  of  the  crew  and  taking  possession  of  the 
ship. 

In  the  concluding  scene  of  the  foregoing 
drama,  Mr.  Douglass  was  an  actor,  I  an  ob 
server.  After  the  decision  giving  them 
their  liberty,  the  anti-slavery  society,  who 
had  been  vigilant  in  its  endeavors  to  have 
them  liberated  ever  since  their  advent  on 
American  shores,  held  a  monster  meeting 
to  receive  them. 

Frederick  Douglass  introduced  "Cin 
guez"  to  the  meeting.  I  cannot  forget  or  fail 
to  feel  the  inspiration  of  that  scene.  The 
two  giants  locked  in  each  others  embrace, 
looked  the  incarnation  of  heroism  and 
dauntless  purpose,  equal  to  the  achieve 
ment  of  great  results.  The  one  by  indomita 
ble  will  had  shaken  off  his  own  shackles 
and  was  making  slavery  odius  by  his 


30  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

matchless  and  eloquent  arraignment; 
the  other,  "a  leader  of  men/'  had 
now  written  his  protest  with  the 
blood  of  his  captors.  Cinguez,  with  un- 
intelligable  utterance  in  African  dialect 
with  emphatic  gesture,  his  liberty  loving 
soul  on  fire,  while  burning  words  strove 
for  expression,  described  his  action  on  the 
memorable  night  of  his  emancipation, 
with  such  vividness,  power,  and  pathos 
that  the  audience  seemed  to  see  every  act 
of  the  drama  and  feel  the  pulsation  of  his 
great  heart.  Through  an  interpreter  he 
afterwards  narrated  his  manner  of  taking 
the  vessel,  and  how  it  happened  to  reach 
American  shores.  How,  after  taking  the 
ship,  he  stood  by  the  tiller  with  drawn 
weapon  and  commanded  the  mate  to  steer 
back  to  Africa.  During  the  day  he  com 
plied,  but  at  night  took  the  opposite 
course.  After  sometime  of  circuitous  wan 
dering  the  vessel  ran  into  Long  Island 
Sound  and  was  taken  possession  of  by  the 
United  States  authorities.  Cinguez,  as 
hero  and  patriot,  enobled  African  charac 
ter. 

When  majority  and  the  threshold  of 
man's  estate  is  attained,  the  transition 
from  advanced  youth  to  the  entry  of  man 
hood  is  liable  to  casualties;  not  unlike  a 
bark  serenely  leaving  its  home  harbor  to 
enter  unfrequented  waters,  the  crew 
exhilarated  by  fresh  and  invigorating 
breezes,  charmed  by  a  genial  sky,  it  moves 
"like  a  thing  of  beauty"  with  the  hope 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  31 

of  "joy  forever."  The  chart  and  log  of 
many  predecessors  may  unheeded  lie  at 
hand,  but  the  glorious  present,  cloudless 
and  fascinating,  rich  in  expectation,  it 
sails  on,  fortunate  if  it  escapes  the  rocks 
and  shoals  that  ever  lie  in  wait.  It  is  un 
reasonable  to  expect  a  proper  conception, 
and  the  happiest  performance  of  life's 
duties  at  such  a  period,  especially  from 
those  with  easy  and  favorable  environ 
ments,  or  who  ha-ve  been  heedless  of  paren 
tal  restraint,  for  even  at  an  advanced 
stage  in  life,  there  have  been  many  to  ex 
claim  with  a  poet: 

"Ne'er  tell  me  of  evening  serenely  adorning 
The  close  of  a  life  richly  mellowed  by  time, 
Give  me  back,  give  me  back  the  wild  fresh 
ness  of  morning 

Her  smiles  and  her  tears  are  worth  even 
ing's  best  light." 

Twenty-one  years  of  age  found  me  the 
possessor  of  a  trade,  an  attainment,  and  a 
capital  invaluable  for  a  poor  young  man 
beginning  the  race  of  life.  For  whether 
seen  smutted  by  the  soot  of  the  blacksmith 
shop,  or  whitened  by  the  lime  of  the 
plasterer  or  bricklayer;  whether  bending 
"beneath  tool  box  of  the  carpenter  or 
ensconced  on  the  bench  of  the  shoemaker, 
he  has  a  moral  strength,  a  consciousness 
of  acquirement,  giving  him  a  dignity  of 
manhood  unpossessed  by  the  menial  and 
those  engaged  in  unskilled  labor.  Let  it 
never  be  forgotten  that  as  high  over  in  im 
portance  as  the  best  interest  of  the  race  is- 


32  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

to  that  of  the  individual,  will  be  the  uplift 
ing  influence  of  assiduously  cultivating  a 
desire  to  obtain  trades.  The  crying  want 
with  us  is  a  middle  class.  The  chief  com 
ponent  of  our  race  today  is  laborers  un 
skilled.  We  will  not  and  cannot  compete 
with  other  races  who  have  a  large  and  in 
fluential  class  of  artisans  and  mechanics, 
and  having  received  higher  remuneration 
for  labor,  have  paved  the  way  for  them 
selves  or  offsprings  from  the  mechanic  to 
the  merchant  or  to  the  professional.  These 
three  factors,  linked  and  interlinked,  an 
ascending  chain  will  be  strong  in  its  rela 
tion,  as  consistent  in  construction. 

In  1849  Frederick  Douglass,  Charles 
Lenox  Remond  and  Julia  Griffith,  an  Eng 
lish  lady  prominent  in  reform  circles  in 
England,  attended  the  National  Anti- 
slavery  Convention  held  in  Philadelphia, 
and  presided  over  by  that  apostle  of  lib 
erty,  Win.  Lloyd  Garrison.  At  its  close 
Mr.  Douglass  invited  me  to  accompany 
him  to  his  home  at  Rochester,  and  then  to 
join  him  in  lecturing  in  the  "Western  Re 
serve/' 

Without  salary,  poor  in  purse,  doubtful 
of  useful  ability,  dependent  for  sustenance 
on  a  sentiment  then  prevailing,  that  for 
anti-slavery  expression  was  as  reserved  as 
the  "Keserve"  was  Western.  T  have  often 
thought  of  my  feelings  of  doubt  and  fear 
to  go  with  Mr.  Douglass,  as  an  epoch  in  my 
life's  history.  The  parting  of  the  ways, 
the  embarkation  to  a  wider  field  of  action, 


HON.   FKKDKHK'K  DOUGLASS. 

"Sajre  of  Anaeostia." 

The  .\Iusl    Distinguished   Negro  of  the  Hace— As  Statesman.    Kditor,   Orator,    I'li'I- 
anthropist   He  Left  an1   Indelible   Mark   on  tlie   Page  of  His  Country's 
History — Horn  in   1X17  at  Tuekahoe,    Maryland — Died  Febru 
ary.  1X0.") — He  was  Author  of  "My  liondage  and  My 
Freedom."    "Life  ami   Times' of   Frederick 
Donir'ass."   and   Oliiers. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  33 

the  close  connection  between  obedience  to 
an  impulse  of  duty  (however  uninviting  or 
uncertain  the  outcome),  and  the  ever 
moral  and  often  material  benefit. 

Rochester  proved  to  be  my  pathway  to 
California.  Western  New  York,  50  years 
ago,  then  known  as  the  "Western  Re 
serve,"  was  very  unlike  the  present  as  to 
population,  means  of  travel,  material  de 
velopments,  schools  of  learning,  and 
humanizing  influences.  Mr.  Douglass,  in 
the  Baptist  Church  in  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  a 
short  time  before  his  death,  told  how,  in 
1849,  we  there  traveled  together;  that 
where  now  are  stately  cities  and  villages 
a  sparsely  settled  wilderness  existed;  that 
while  we  there  proclaimed  abolition  as  the 
right  of  the  slave,  the  chilling  effect  of 
those  December  days  were  not  more  cold 
and  heartless  than  the  reception  we  met 
when  our  mission  as  advocates  for  the 
slave  became  known;  churches  and  halls 
were  closed  against  us.  Stables  and  black 
smith  shops  Avould  sometimes  hold 
audiences  more  generous  with  epithets 
and  elderly  eggs  than  with  manly  de 
corum.  God  be  thanked,  Douglass,  the 
grandest  of  "our  grand  old  men,"  lived  to 
see  "the  seeds  of  mighty  truth  have  their 
silent  undergrowth,  and  in  the  earth  be 
wrought."  A  family,  however  poor,  striv 
ing  as  best  they  may  to  give  the  rudiments 
of  knowledge  to  their  children,  should 
have,  if  but  few,  books  descriptive  of  the 
hopes  and  struggles  of  those  no  better 


34  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

situated,  who  have  made  impress  on  the 
age  in  which  they  lived.  We  seldom  re 
member  from  whence  we  first  received  the 
idea  which  gave  impulse  to  an  honorable 
action;  we  received  it,  however,  most 
probably  from  tongue  or  pen.  For  im 
pressible  youth  such  biography  should  be 
as  easy  of  access  as  possible. 

It  has  been  said  that  "  a  man's  noblest 
mistake  is  to  be  born  before  his  time." 
This  will  not  apply  to  Frederick  Douglass. 
His  "Life  and  Times77  should  be  in  the 
front  rank  of  selection  for  blessing  and. 
inspiration.  A  blessing  for  the  high  moral 
of  its  teaching;  an  inspiration  for  the  poor 
est  boy;  that  he  need  not  "beg  the  world.7s 
pardon  for  having  been  born,77  but  by  fos 
tering  courage  and  consecration  of  pur 
pose  "he  may  rank  the  peer  of  any  man.77 

Frederick  Douglass,  born  a  slave,  ham 
pered  by  all  the  depressing  influences  of 
that  institution;  by  indomitable  energy 
and  devotion;  seizing  with  an  avidity  that 
knew  no  obstacle  every  opportunity,  culti 
vated  a  mind  and  deA^eloped  a  character 
that  will  be  a  bright  page  in  the  history  of 
noble  and  beneficent  achievements. 

For  the  conditions  that  confronted  him 
and  the  anti-slavery  crusade,  have  been 
well  and  eloquently  portrayed  by  the  late 
George  William  Curtis.  That  how  terri 
bly  earnest  was  the  anti-slavery  agitation 
this  generation  little  knows.  To  under 
stand  is  to  recall  the  situation  of  the  coun 
try.  Slavery  sat  supreme  in  the  White 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  35 

House  and  made  laws  at  the  capital. 
Courts  of  Justice  were  its  ministers,  and 
legislators  its  lackeys.  It  silenced  the 
preacher  in  the  pulpit;  it  muzzled  the  edi 
tor  at  his  desk,  and  the  professor  in  his 
lecture-room.  It  sat  a  price  on  the  heads 
of  peaceful  citizens;  robbed  the  mails,  and 
denounced  the  vital  principles  of  the 
declaration  of  independence  as  treason. 
In  the  States  where  the  law  did  not  tol 
erate  slavery,  slavery  ruled  the  club 
and  drawing  room,  the  factory  and  the  of 
fice,  swaggered  at  the  dinner  table,  and 
scourged  with  scorn  a  cowardly  society. 
It  tore  the  golden  rule  from  the  school 
books,  and  from  the  prayer  books  the 
pictured  benignity  of  Christ.  It  prohibited 
schools  in  the  free  States  for  the  hated 
race;  hunted  women  who  taught  children 
to  read,  and  forbade  a  free  people  to  com 
municate  with  their  representatives." 

It  was  under  such  conditions  so  pun- 
gently  and  truthfully  stated  that  Douglass 
appeared  as  a  small  star  on  the  horizon  of 
a  clouded  firmament;  rose  in  intellectual 
brilliancy,  mental  power  and  a  noble  gen 
erosity.  For  his  devotion  wras  not  only  to 
the  freedom  of  the  slave  with  which  he 
was  identified,  but  for  liberty  and  the  bet 
terment  of  humanity  everywhere,  regard 
less  of  sex  or  color.  His  page  already 
luminous  in  history  will  continue  to 
brighten,  and  when  statuary,  now  and 
hereafter,  erected  to  his  memory,  shall 
have  crumbled  "neath  the  beatings  of 


36  SHADOW  AND   LICJUT. 

time;"  the  good  fame  of  his  name,  high 
purpose  and  unflinching  integrity  to  the 
highest  needs  of  humanity,  will  remain 
hallowed  "foot  prints  in  the  sands  of 
time."  Eminently  fit  was  the  naming  of 
an  institution  in  Philadelphia  "The  Fred 
erick  Douglass  Hospital  and  Freedmairs 
School;"  the  assuaging  of  suffering  and 
the  giving  of  larger  opportunity  for  tech 
nical  instruction  were  cherished  ideals 
with  the  sage  of  Anacostia;  also  the  lives 
of  Harriet  Beadier  Stowe,  Lucretia  Mott 
and  Francis  E.  Harper,  and  the  noble 
'band  of  women  of  which  they  were  the 
type,  who  bravely  met  social  ostracism 
and  insult  for  devotion  to  the  slave,  will 
ever  have -a  proud  place  in  our  country's 
history.  Of  this  illustrious  baud  was  Julia 
Griffith,  hitherto  referred  to,  a  grand  rep 
resentative  of  those  renowned  women,  who 
at  home  or  abroad,  did  so  much  to  hasten 
the  downfall  of  slavery  and  encourage  the 
weak  and  lowly  to  hope  and  effort.  Thack- 
ery  has  said  that,  "Could  you  see  every 
man's  career,  you  Avould  find  a  woman 
clogging  him,  or  cheering  him,  or  beckon 
ing  him  on." 

Having  finished  my  intended  tour  with 
Mr.  Douglass,  and  returned  to  Kochester, 
the  outlook  for  my  future,  to. me,  was  not 
promising.  The  opportunities  for  ad 
vancement  were  much,  very  much  less 
than  now.  With  me  ambition  and  dejec 
tion  contended  for  the  mastery,  the  latter 
<often  in  the  ascendant.  To  her  friendlv 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  37 

inquiry  I  gave  reasons  for  my  depression. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  response;  almost 
imperious  in  manner,  you  could  already 
anticipate  the  magnitude  of  an  idea  that 
seemed  to  struggle  for  utterance.  "What! 
discouraged?  Go  do  some  great  thing."  It 
was  an  inspiration,  the  result  of  which  she 
may  never  have  known.  We  are  assured, 
however,  that  a  kind  act  or  helpful  word 
is  inseparably  connected  with  a  Jblessing 
for  the  giver.  To  earnest  youth  I  would 
bequeath  the  excelsior  of  the  "youth  mid 
snow  and  ice,"  and  the  above  injunction, 
"upward  and  onward;"  "go  do  some  great 
thing." 

The  war  with  Mexico,  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  in  1848,  the  acquisition  of  new 
territory,  and  the  developments  of  our 
hitherto  undeveloped  Western  posses 
sions,  stimulated  the  financial  pulse,  and 
permeated  every  avenue  of  industry  and 
speculative  life.  While  in  New  York 
State  I  met  several  going  and  returning 
gold  seekers,  many  giving  dazzling  ac 
counts  of  immense  deposits  of  gold  in  the 
new  Eldorado;  and  others,  as  ever  the  case 
with  adventurers,  gave  gloomy  statements 
of  peril  and  disaster.  A  judicious  tem 
perament,  untiring  energy,  a  lexicon  of  en 
deavor,  in  which  there  is  no  such  word  as 
"fail,"  is  the  only  open  sesame  to  hidden 
opportunities  in  a  new  country.  Fortune, 
in  precarious  mood,  may  sometime  smile 
on  the  inert,  but  she  seldom  fails  to  sur 
render  to  pluck,  tenacity  and  perseverance1. 
As  the  Oxford  men  say  it  is  the  one  pull 


38  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

more  of  the  oar  that  proves  the  "beefiness 
of  the  fellow;"  it  is  the  one  march  more 
that  wins  the  campaign;  the  five  minutes 
more  persistent  courage  that  wins  the 
fight. 

I  returned  to  Philadelphia,  and  with 
some  friendly  assistance,  sailed,  in  1850, 
from  New  York,  as  a  steerage  pas 
senger  for  San  Francisco.  Arriving  at 
Aspinwall,  the  point  of  debarkation,  on 
the  Atlantic  side,  boats  and  boatsmen 
were  engaged  to  transport  passengers  and 
baggage  up  the  "Chagress,"  a  small  and 
shallow  river.  Crossing  the  Isthmus  to 
Panama,  on  the  Pacific  side,  I  found  Pana 
ma  very  cosmopolitan  in  appearance,  for 
mingled  with  the  sombrero-attired  South 
American,  could  be  seen  denizens  from 
every  foreign  clime.  Its  make  up  was  a 
combination  of  peculiar  attributes.  It  was 
dirty,  but  happy  in  having  crows  for  its 
scavengers;  sickly,  but  cheery;  old,  but 
with  an  youthful  infusion.  The  virtues 
and  vices  were  both  shy  and  unblushing. 
A  rich,  dark  foliage,  evrer  blooming,  and 
ever  decaying;  a  humid  atmosphere;  a  rot 
ting  vegetation  under  a  tropical  sun, 
while  fever  stalked  on  from  conquest  to 
conquest. 

The  sudden  influx,  the  great  travel  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  had  given  much  impetus  to 
business  as  well  as  to  local  amusements. 
For  the  latter,  Sunday  was  the  ideal  day, 
when  bull  and  cock  fights  secured  the  at 
tendance  of  the  elite,  and  the  humble,  the 
priest  and  the  laity. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  39 

The  church,  preaching  gentleness  and 
peace  in  the  morning,  in  the  afternoon 
her  minister,  with  sword  spurred 
"bolosed"  bantams  under  their  arms, 
would  appear  on  the  scene  eager  for  the 
fray. 

After  recovering  from  the  Panama  fever 
I  took  passage  on  the  steamship  "Golden 
Gate"  for  San  Francisco.  Science,  ex- 
perience,  and  a  greatly  increased  demand 
have  done  much  during  the  intervening 
fifty  years  to  lessen  risk  and  increase  the 
comfort  of  ocean  travel.  Yet  it  is  not 
without  a  degree  of  restless  anticipation 
that  one  finds  himself  and  baggage  finally 
domiciled  on  an  ocean-going  steamer. 
Curiosity  and  criticism,  selfishness  and 
graciousness  each  in  turn  assert  them 
selves.  Curiosity  in  espionage,  criticism 
in  observation,  while  selfishness  and 
graciousness  alternate.  You  find  yourself 
in  the  midst  of  a  miniature  world,  environ 
ed,  but  isolated  from  activities  of  the 
greater,  an  epitome  of  human  proclivities. 
A  possible  peril,  real,  imaginary  or  re 
mote;  a  common  brotherhood  tightens  the 
chain  of  fellowship  and  gradually  widens 
the  exchange  of  amenities. 

We  had  a  stormy  passage,  making  San 
Diego  with  the  top  of  smoke  stack  en 
crusted  with  the  salt  of  the  waves,  paddle 
wheel  broken  and  otherwise  disabled, 
finally  arriving  at  San  Francisco  in 
September. 


40  SHADOW  AND   TIGHT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Having  made  myself  somewhat  pre 
sentable  upon  leaving  the  steerage  of  the 
steamer,  my  trunk  on  a  dray,  I  proceeded 
to  an  unprepossessing  hotel  kept  by  a 
colored  man  on  Kearny  street.  The 
cursory  view  from  the  outside,  and  the 
further  inspection  on  the  inside,  reminded 
me  of  the  old  lady's  description  of  her 
watch,  for  she  said,  "it  might  look  pretty 
hard  on  the  outside,  but  the  inside  works 
were  all  right."  And  so  thought  its  jolly 
patrons.  Seated  at  tables,  well  supplied 
with  piles  of  gold  and  silver,  where  numer 
ous  disciples  of  that  ancient  trickster 
Pharoah,  being  dubious  perhaps  of  the 
propriety  of  adopting  the  literal  ortho 
graphy  of  his  name,  and  abbreviated  it  to 
Faro. 

Getting  something  for  nothing,  or  risk 
ing  the  smaller  in  hope  of  obtaining  the 
greater,  seems  a  passion  inherent  in 
human  nature,  requiring  a  calm  survey  of 
the  probabilities,  and  oftimes  the  baneful 
effects  to  attain  a  moral  resistance.  It  i& 
the  "ignus  fatus"  that  has  lured  many 
promising  ones  and  wrecked  the  future  of 
many  lives. 

The    effervescent  happiness  of  some  of 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  41 

the  worshipers  at  this  shrine  was  con 
spicuous.  The  future  to  them  seemed 
cloudless.  It  was  not  so  with  me.  I  had  a 
secret  not  at  all  complacent,  for  it  seemed 
anxious  to  get  out,  and  while  unhappy 
from  its  presence,  I  thought  it  wise  to  re 
tain  it. 

When  I  approached  the  bar  I  asked  for 
accommodation,  and  my  trunk  was 
brought  in.  While  awaiting  this  prepara 
tory  step  to  domicile,  and  gazing  at  the 
prints  and  pictures  more  or  less  "blaser" 
that  adorned  the  bar,  my  eye  caught  a 
notice,  prominently  placed,  in  gilt  letters. 
I  see  it  now,  "Board  twelve  dollars  a  week 
in  advance."  It  was  not  the  price,  but  the 
stipulation  demanded  that  appalled  me. 
Had  I  looked  through  a  magnifying  glass 
the  letters  could  not  have  appeared  larger. 
With  the  brilliancy  of  a  search  light  they 
seemed  to  ask  "Who  are  you  and  how  are 
you  fixed?"  I  responded  by  "staring  fate 
in  the  face,"  and  going  up  to  the  bar 
asked  for  a  cigar.  How  much?  Ten  cents. 
I  had  sixty  cents  when  I  landed;  had  paid 
fifty  for  trunk  drayage,  and  I  was  now  a 
moneyless  man —  hence  my  secret. 

Would  there  be  strict  enforcement  of 
conditions  mentioned  in  that  ominous 
card.  I  was  unacquainted  with  the  Bohe 
mian  "song  and  dance"  parlance  in  such 
extremities,  and  wondered  would  letting 
my  secret  come  out  let  a  dinner  come  in. 
Possibly,  I  may  have  often  been  deceived 
when  appealed  to,  but  that  experience  has 


42  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

often  been   fruitful  to   friendless  hunger. 

Finally  the  bell  rang,  and  a  polite  invi 
tation  from  the  landlord  placed  ine  at  the 
table.  There  is  nothing  so  helpful  to  a 
disconsolate  man  as  a  good  dinner.  It  dis 
sipates  melancholy  and  stimulates  persis 
tency.  Never  preach  high  moral  rectitude 
or  the  possibilities  of  industry  to  a  hungry 
man.  First  give  him  something  to  eat, 
then  should  there  be  a  vulnerable  spot  to 
such  admonition  you  will  succeed.  If  not, 
lie  is  an  incorrigible. 

After  dinner  I  immediately  went  out, 
and  after  many  attempts  to  seek  employ 
ment  of  any  kind,  I  approached  a  house  in 
course  of  construction  and  applied  to  the 
contractor  for  work.  He  replied  he  did 
not  need  help.  I  asked  the  price  of  wages. 
Ten  dollars  a  day.  I  said  you  AArould  much 
oblige  me  by  giving  me,  if  only  a  few  days' 
work,  as  I  have  just  arrived.  After  a  few 
moments  thought,  during  which  mayhap 
charity  and  gain  held  conference,  which 
succumbed,  it  is  needless  to  premise,  for 
we  sometimes  ascribe  selfish  motives  to 
kindly  acts,  he  said  that  if  I  choose  to 
come  for  nine  dollars  a  day  I  might.  It  is 
unnecessary  for  me  to  add  that  I  chose  to 
come. 

When  I  got  outside  the  building  an  ap 
palling  thought  presented  itself;  whoever 
heard  of  a  carpenter  announcing  himself 
ready  for  work  without  his  tools.  A  minis 
ter  may  be  without  piety,  a  lawyer  without 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  43 

clients,  a  politician  impolitic,  but  a  car 
penter  without  tools,  never!  It  would  be 
prima  facia  evidence  of  an  imposter.  I 
went  back  and  asked  what  tools  I  must 
bring  upon  the  morrow;  he  told  me  and  I 
left.  But  the  tools,  the  tools,  how  was  I  to 
get  them.  My  only  acquaintance  in  the 
city  was  my  landlord.  But  prospects  were 
too  bright  to  reveal  to  him  my  secret.  I 
wended  my  way  to  a  large  tent  having  an 
assortment  of  hardware  and  was  shown 
the  tools  needed.  I  then  told  the  merchant 
that  I  had  no  money,  and  of  the  place  I 
had  to  work  the  next  morning.  He  said 
nothing  for  a  moment,  looked  me  over,  and 
then  said:  '"'All  right  take  them."  I  felt 
great  relief  when  I  paid  the  merchant  and 
my  landlord  on  the  following  Saturday. 

Why  do  I  detail  to  such  length  these 
items  of  endeavor;  experiences  which  have 
had  similarity  in  mainy  lives?  For  the  rea 
son  that  they  seem  to  contain  data  for  a 
moral,  which  if  observed  may  be  useful. 
Never  disclose  your  poverty  until  the  last 
gleam  of  hope  has  sunk  beneath  the 
horizon  of  your  best  effort,  remembering 
that  invincible  determination  holds  the 
key  to  success,  while  advice  and  assistance 
hitherto  laggard,  now  with  hasty  steps 
greets  you  within  the  door. 

I  was  not  allowed  to  long  pursue  car 
pentering.  White  employees  finding  me  at 
work  on  the  same  building  would  "strike." 
On  one  occasion  the  contractor  came  to 
me  and  said,  "I  expect  you  will  have  to 


44:  SHADOW  AND   TJr.HT. 

stop,  for  this  house  must  be  finished  in  the* 
time  specified;  but,  if  you  can  get  six  or 
eight  equally  good  workmen,  I  will  let 
these  fellows  go.  Not  that  I  have  any 
special  liking  for  your  people.  I  am  giving 
these  men  all  the  wages  they  demand,  and 
I  am  not  willing  to  submit  to  the  tyrany  of 
their  dictation  if  I  can  help  it.  This  episode, 
the  moral  of  which  is  as  pertinent  today  as 
then,  and  more  apparent,  intensifies  the 
necessity  of  greater  desire  upon  the  part 
of  our  young  men  and  women  to  acquire 
knowledge  in  skilled  handicraft,  reference 
to  which  I  have  hitherto  made.  But  my 
convictions  are  so  pronounced  that  I  can 
not  forbear  the  reiteration.  For  while  it  is 
enobling  to  the  individual,  giving  inde 
pendence  of  character  and  more  financial 
ability,  the  reflex  influence  is  so  helpful  in 
giving  the  race  a  higher  status  in  the  in 
dustrial  activities  of  a  commonwealth. 
Ignorance  of  such  activities  compel  our 
people  mostly  to  engage  in  the  lower  and 
less  remunerative  pursuits.  I  could  not 
find  the  men  he  wanted  or  subsequent  em 
ployment  of  that  kind. 

AJ!  classes  of  labor  were  highly  re 
munerative,  blacking  boots  not  excepted. 

I  after  engaged  in  this,  and  other  like 
humble  employments,  part  of  which  was 
for  Hon.  John  C.  Fremont,  "the  path 
finder  overland  to  California." 

Saving  my  earnings,  I  joined  a  firm  al 
ready  established  in  the  clothing  business. 
After  a  year  or  more  so  engaged,  I  became 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 

"The  Sage  of  Tuskegee." 

The  Leader  of  Leaders  For  Negro  Advancement. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  45 

a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Lester  &  Gibbs, 
importers  of  fine  boots  and  shoes.  Just 
here  a  thought  occurs  which  may  be  of  ad 
vantage  to  ambitious  but  impecunious 
young  men.  Do  not  hesitate  when  you  are 
without  choice  to  accept  the  most  humble 
and  menial  employment.  It  will  be  a 
source  of  pleasure,  if  by  self-denial,  saving 
your  earnings,  you  keep  a  fixed  intent  to 
make  it  the  stepping  stone  to  something 
higher. 

The  genius  of  our  institutions,  and  the 
noblest  of  mankind  will  estimate  you  by 
the  ratio  of  distance  from  the  humblest 
beginning  to  your  present  attainment;  the 
greater  the  distance  the  greater  the  luster; 
the  more  fitting  the  meed  of  praise. 

Our  establishment  on  Clay  street, 
known  as  the  "Emporium  for  fine  boots  and 
shoes,  imported  from  Philadelphia,  Lon 
don  and  Paris,"  having  a  reputation  for 
keeping  the  best  and  finest  in  the  State, 
was  well  patronized,  our  patrons  extend 
ing  to  Oregon  and  lower  California.  The 
business,  wholesale  and  retail,  was  profit 
able  and  maintained  for  a  number  of 
ye'ars.  Mr.  Lester,  my  partner,  being  a 
practical  bootmaker,  his  step  to  a  mer 
chant  in  that  line  was  easy  and  lucrative. 

Thanks  to  the  evolution  of  events  and 
inarch  of  liberal  ideas  the  colored  men  in 
California  have  now  a  recognized  citizen 
ship,  and  equality  before  the  law.  It  was 
not  so  at  the  period  of  which  I  write.  With 


46  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

thrift  and  a  wise  circumspection  financial 
ly,  their  opportunities  were  good;  from 
every  other  point  of  view  they  were  ostra 
cised,  assaulted  without  redress,  dis 
franchised  and  denied  their  oath  in  a  court 
of  justice. 

One  occasion  will  be  typical  of  _the  condi 
tion.  One  of  two  mutual  friends  (both  our 
customers)  came  in  looking  over  and  ad 
miring  a  display  of  newly  arrived  stock, 
tried  on  a  pair  of  boots,  was  pleased  with 
them,  but  said  he  did  not  think  he  needed 
them  then;  lay  them  aside  and  he  would 
think  about  it.  A  short  time  after  his 
friend  came  in,  was  shown  the  pair  the 
former  had  admired;  would  he  like  such  a 
pair?  He  tried  on  several  and  then  asked 
to  try  on  his  friend's  selection;  they  only 
suited,  and  he  insisted  on  taking  them;  we 
objected,  but  he  had  them  on,  and  said  we 
need  not  have  fear,  he  would  clear  us  of 
blame,  and  walked  out.  Knowing  they 
were  close  friends  we  were  content.  Pos 
sibly,  in  a  humorous  mood,  he  went 
straight  to  his  friend,  for  shortly  they  both 
came  back,  the  first  asking  for  his  boots; 
he  would  receive  no  explanation  (while  the 
cause  of  the  trouble  stood  mute),  and  with 
vile  epithets,  using  a  heavy  cane,  again 
and  again  assaulted  my  partner,  who  was 
compelled  tamely,  to  submit,  for  had  he 
raised  his  hand  he  would  have  been  shot, 
and  no  redress.  I  would  not  have  been  al 
lowed  to  attest  to  "the  deep  damnation  of 
his  taking  off." 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  47 

The  Magna  Charter,  granted  by  King 
John,  at  Runney  Mead,  to  the  Barons  of 
England,  in  the  twelfth  century,  followed 
by  the  Petition  of  Right  by  Charles  I,  has 
been  rigidly  preserved  and  consecrated  as 
foundation  for  civil  liberty.  The  Conti 
nental  Congress  led  the  van  for  the  United 
States,  who  oftimes  tardy  in  its  conserva 
tism,  is  disposed  to  give  audience  to  merit 
and  finally  justice  to  pertinacity  of  pur 
pose. 

In  1851,  Jonas  P.  Townsend,  W.  H.  New- 
by,  and  other  colored  men  with  myself, 
drew  up  and  published  in  the  "Alto  Cali 
fornia,"  the  leading  paper  of  the  State,  a 
preamble  and  resolutions  protesting 
against  being  disfranchised  and  denied  the 
right  of  oath,  and  our  determination  to 
use  all  moral  means  to  secure  legal  claim 
to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  Amer 
ican  citizens. 

It  being  the  first  pronouncement  from 
the  colored  people  of  the  State,  who  were 
supposed  to  be  content  with  their  status, 
the  announcement  caused  much  comment 
and  discussion  among  the  dominant  class. 
For  down  deep  in  the  heart  of  every  man 
is  a  conception  of  right.  He  cannot  ex 
tinguish  it,  or  separate  it  from  its  com 
parative.  What  would  I  have  others  do  to 
me?.  Pride,  interest,  adverse  contact,  all 
with  specious  argument  may  strive  to  dis 
sipate  the  comparison,  but  the  pulsations 
of  a  common  humanity,  keeping  time  with 
the  verities  of  God  never  ceased  to 


48  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

trouble,  ami  thus  the  moral  pebble  thrown 
on  the  bosom  of  the  hitherto  placid  sea  of 
public  opinion,  like  its  physical  prototype, 
creating  undulations  which  go  on  and  on 
to  beat  against  the  rock  and  make  sandy 
shores,  so  this  our  earnest  but  feeble  pro 
test  contributed  its  humble  share  in  the  re 
building  of  a  commonwealth  where  "a" 
man's  a  man  for  all  that." 

The  committee  above  named,  with  G.  TV. 
Dennis  and  James  Brown,  the  same 
year  formed  a  company,  established 
and  published  the '"Mirror  of  the  Times," 
the  first  periodical  issued  in  the  State  for 
the  advocacy  of  equal  rights  for  all  Ameri 
cans.  It  has  been  followed  by  a  score  of 
kindred  that  have  assiduously  maintained 
and  ably  contended  for  the  rights  and 
privileges  claimed  by  their  zealous  leader. 

State  conventions  were  held  in  1854, 
'55  and  757,  resolutions  and  petitions  pass 
ed  and  presented  to  the  Legislature  of 
Sacramento.  We  had  friends  to  offer 
them  and  foes  to  move  they  be  thrown  out 
the  window.  It  is  ever  thus,  "that  men  go 
to  fierce  extremes  rather  than  rest  upon 
the  quiet  flow  of  truths  that  soften  hatred 
and  temper  strife."  There  was  that  un 
known  quantity,  present  in  all  legislative 
bodies,  composed  of  good  "little  men" 
without  courage  of  conviction,  others  of 
the  Dickens'  "devilish  sly"  type,  who  put 
out  their  plant-like  tendrils  for  support; 
others  "who  bent  the  pliant  servile  knee 
that  thrift  mav  follow  fawning" — all 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  49 

these  the  make- weight  of  a  necessary  con 
stituent  in  representative  government  conr 
servatism.  The  conservative  majority  laid 
our  petition  on  the  table,  most  likely  with 
the  tacit  understanding  that  it  was  to  be 
"taken  up"  by  the  janitor,  and  as  such  ac 
tion  on  his  part  is  not  matter  for  record, 
Ave  will  in  this  happier  day  with  "charity 
to  all,"  over  this  episode  on  memory's  leaf, 
simply  wrote  "lost  or  stolen." 

Among  the  occasions  continually  occur 
ring  demanding  protests  against  injustice 
Avas  the  imposition  of  the  "poll  tax."  It 
was  demanded  of  our  firm,  and  we  refused 
to  pay.  A  sufficient  quantity  of  our  goods 
to  pay  tax  and  costs  were  levied  upon,  and 
published  for  sale,  and  on  what  account. 

I  wrote  with  a  fervor  as  cool  as  the  cir 
cumstances  would  permit,  and  published 
a  card  from  a  disfranchised  oath-denied 
standpoint,  closing  with  the  avowal  that 
the  great  State  of  California  might  an 
nually  confiscate  our  goods,  but  we  would 
never  pay  the  voters  tax.  The  card  at 
tracted  attention,  the  injustice  seemed 
glaring,  the  goods  were  offered.  We  learn 
ed  that  we  had  several  friends  at  the  sale, 
one  in  particular  a  Southern  man.  Now 
there  was  this  peculiarity  about  the  South 
ern  white  man,  he  would  work  a  Negro  for 
fifty  years  for  his  victuals  and  clothes,  and 
shoot  a  white  man  for  cheating  the  same 
Negro,  as  he  considered  the  latter  the 
height  of  meanness.  This  friend  quietly 
and  persistently  moved  through  the 


50  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

crowd,  telling  them  why  our  goods  were 
there,  and  advising  to  give  them  a  "terri 
ble  letting  alone."  The  auctioneer  stated 
on  what  account  they  were  there,  to  be 
sold,  asked  for  bidders,  winked  his  eye  and 
said  "no  bidders."  Our  goods  were  sent 
back  to  our  store.  This  law,  in  the  words 
of  a  distinguished  Statesman,  was  then  al 
lowed  to  relapse  "into  innocuous  desue 
tude."  No  further  attempts  to  enforce  it 
upon  colored  men  were  made. 


KISHOP   HENRY 


TTKNEK. 


I'.orn  in  NY \v berry,  S.  ('. — Ordained  Bishop  in  1880 — President  of  Bishop  Cmu 

Home  and   Foreign  Missionary   Society  and   Sunday  School   Union  of   th-> 

A.    M.   B.    Church' — From     Slave     to     Statesman — As   Soldier.    Editor. 

Author,   Legislator,   Orator,  mid  African  Explorer — For  Vitality 

and   Ability,   Courage  and   Fidelity,   Along  so  Many 

lyines.  He  Stands1  Without  a  Peer. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  51 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  rush  to  newly  discovered  gold  fields 
bring  in  view  every  trait  of  human  charac 
ter.  The  more  vicious  standing  out  in  bold 
relief,  and  stamping  their  impress  upon 
the  locality.  This  phase  and  most  primi 
tive  situation  can  be  accounted  for  partly 
by  the  cupidity  of  mankind,  but  mainly 
that  the  first  arrivals  are  chiefly  adventur 
ers.  Single  men,  untrammeled  by  family 
cares,  traders,  saloonists,  gamblers,  and 
that  unknown  quantity  of  indefinite  qual- 
ity,  ever  present,  content  to  allow  others 
to  fix  a  status  of  society,  provided  they  do 
not  touch  on  their  own.  special  interests, 
and  that  other,  the  unscrupulous  but  active 
professional  politician,  having  been  dis 
honored  at  home,  still  astute  and  deter 
mined,  seeks  new  fields  for  booty,  obtain 
positions  of  trust  and  then  consummate 
peculation  and  outrage  under  the  forms  of 
law.  But  the  necessity  for  the  honest  ad 
ministration  of  the  law  eventually  asserts 
itself  for  the  enforcement  of  order. 

It  was  quaintly  said  by  a  governor  of 
Arkansas,  that  he  believed  that  a  public 
official  should  be  "reasonably  honest." 
Even  should  that  limited  standard  of  offi 
cial  integrity  be  invaded  the  people  with 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

an  honest  ballot  need  not  be  long  in  recti 
fying  the  evil  by  legal  means.  But  cannot 
something  be  said  in  palliation  of  sum 
mary  punishment  by  illegal  means,  when 
It  is  notorious  and  indisputable  that  all 
machinery  for  the  execution  of  the  law 
and  the  maintenance  of  order,  the  judges, 
prosecuting  attorneys,  sheriff  and  drawers 
of  jurors,  and  every  other  of  court  of  law 
are  in  the  hands  of  a  despotic  cabal  who 
excessively  tax,  and  whose  courts  convict 
all  those  who  oppose  them,  and  exonerate 
by  trial  the  most  farcical,  the  vilest  crimi 
nal,  rob  and  murder  in  broad  day  light, 
often  at  the  bidding  of  their  protectors. 
Such  a  status  for  a  people  claiming  to  be 
civilized  seems  difficult  to  conceive,  yet  the 
above  was  not  an  hypothesis  of  condition, 
but  the  actual  one  that  existed  in  Cali 
fornia  and  San  Francisco,  especially  from 
1849  to  1855.  Gamblers  and  dishonest 
politicians  from  other  States  held  the  gov 
ernment,  and  there  was  no  legal  redress. 
Every  attempt  of  the  friends  of  law  and 
order  to  elect  honest  men  to  office  was  met 
at  the  polls  by  vituperation  and  assault. 

One  of  the  means  for  thinning  out  the 
ranks  of  their  opponents  at  the  polls  they 
found  very  efficient.  It  was  to  scatter 
their  "thugs"  along  the  line  of  waiting 
voters  and  known  opposers,  and  quickly 
and  covertly  inject  the  metal  part  of  a 
shoemaker's  awl  in  the  rear  but  most 
fleshy  part,  of  his  adversary's  anatomy, 
iriaking  sitting  unpleasant  for  a  time. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  53 

There  was  usually  uncertainty  as  to  the 
point  of  compass  from  which  the  hint 
came  to  leave,  but  none  as  to  the  fact  of 
its  arrival.  Hence  the  reformer  did  not 
stand  on  the  order  of  his  going,  but  gen 
erally  left  the  line.  These  votes,  of  course, 
were  not  thrown  out,  for  the  reason  they 
never  got  in.  It  diminished,  but  did  not 
abolish  the  necessity  of  stuffing  ballot 
boxes.  In  the  West  I  once  knew  an  old 
magistrate  named  Scott,  noted  for  his  im 
partiality,  but  only  called  Judge  Scott  by 
non-patrons  of  his  court,  who  had  never 
came  within  the  purview  of  his  adminis 
tration,  to  others  he  was  known  as  "old 
Necessity,"  for  it  was  said  he  knew  no 
law.  Revolutions,  the  beneficial  results  of 
which  will  ever  live  in  the  history  of  man 
kind,  founded  as  they  were  on  the  rights 
of  human  nature  and  desire  for  the  estab 
lishment  and  conservation  of  just  govern 
ment,  have  ever  been  the  outgrowth  of 
necessity. 

Patient  in  protest  of  misgovernment, 
men  are  prone  to  "bear  the  ill  they  have" 
until,  like  the  accumulation  of  rills  on 
mountain  side,  indignation  leaps  the 
bounds  of  legal  form  and  prostrate  law  to 
find  their  essence  and  purpose  in  recon 
struction.  At  the  time  of  which  I  write, 
there  seemed  nothing  left  for  the  friends  of 
law,  bereft  as  they  were  of  all  statutory 
means  for  its  enforcement,  but  making  a 
virtue  of  this  necessity  by  organizing  a 


64:  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

"vigilance  committee"  to  wrench  by  phy 
sical  strength  that  unobtainable  by  moral 
right.  There  had  been  no  flourish  of 
trumpets,  no  herald  of  the  impending 
storm,  but  the  pent  up  forces  of  revolution 
in  inertion,  now  fierce  for  action,  discarded 
restraint.  Stern,  but  quiet  had  been  the 
preparation  for  a  revolution  which  had 
come,  as  come  it  ever  will,  with  such  invit 
ing  environments.  It  was  not  that  normal 
status,  the  usual  frailties  of  human  nature 
described  by  Hooker  as  "stains  and  blem 
ishes  that  w^ill  remain  till  the  end  of  the 
world,  what  form  of  government,  soever, 
may  take  place,  they  grow  out  of  man's 
nature."  But  in  this  event  the  stains  and 
blemishes  were  effaced  by  a  common 
atrocity. 

Sitting  at  the  back  of  my  store  on  Clay 
street  a  beautiful  Sunday  morning,  one  of 
those  mornings  peculiar  to  San  Francisco, 
with  its  balmy  breezes  and  Italian  skies, 
there  seemed  an  unusual  stillness,  such  a 
quiet  as  precedes  the  cyclone  in  tropical 
climes,  only  broken  occasionally  by  silvery 
peals  of  the  church  bells.  When  suddenly 
I  heard  the  plank  street  resound  with  the 
tramp  of  a  multitude.  No  voice  or  other 
sound  was  heard  but  the  tramp  of  soldiery, 
whose  rhymth  of  sound  and  motion  is  ever 
a  proclamation  that  thrills  by  its  intensity, 
whether  conquest  or  conservation  be  its 
mission.  I  hastened  to  the  door  and  was 
appalled  at  the  sight.  In  marching 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  55 

column,  six  or  eight  abreast,  five  thousand 
men  carrying  arms  with  head  erect,  a  reso 
lute  determination  born  of  conviction  de 
picted  in  linament  of  feature  and  expres 
sion. 

Hastily  improvised  barracks  in  large 
storehouses  east  of  Montgomery  street, 
fortified  by  hundreds  of  gunny  sacks  filled 
with  sand,  designated  "Fort  Gunney,"  was 
the  quarters  for  committee  and  soldiers. 
The  committee  immediately  dispatched 
deputies  to  arrest  and  bring  to  the  Fort 
the  leaders  of  this  cabal  of  misgovern- 
ment.  The  effort  to  do  so  gave  striking 
evidence  of  the  cowardice  of  assassins. 
Men  whose  very  name  had  inspired  terror, 
and  whose  appearance  in  the  corridors  of 
hotels  or  barrooms  hushed  into  silence  the 
free  or  merry  expression  of  their  patrons, 
now  fled  and  hid  away  "like  damned 
ghosts  at  the  smell  of  day"  from  the  popu 
lar  uprising  of  the  people.  The  event  which 
precipitated  the  movement — the  last  and 
crowning  act  of  this  oligarchy — was  the 
shooting  of  James  King,  of  William,  a 
banker  and  publisher  of  a  paper  dedicated 
to  the  exposure  and  denunciation  of  this 
ring  of  dishonest  officials  and  assassins.  It 
was  done  in  broad  daylight  on  Montgom 
ery  Street,  the  main  thoroughfare  of  the 
city.  Mr.  King,  of  William  County,  Mary 
land,  was  a  terse  writer,  a  gentleman 
highly  esteemed  for  integrity  and  devotion 
to  the  best  interests  of  his  adopted  State. 


56  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

Many  of  the  gang  who  had  time  and  op 
portunity  hid  on  steamers  and  sailing  ves 
sels  to  facilitate  escape,  but  quite  a  num 
ber  were  arrested  and  taken  to  Fort  Gunny 
for  trial.  One  or  two  of  the  most  promi 
nent  took  refuge  in  the  jail — a  strong  and 
well-appointed  brick  building — where,  un 
der  the  protection  of  their  own  hirelings 
in  fancied  security  considered  themselves 
safe.  A  deputation  of  the  committee  from 
the  fort  placed  a  cannon  at  proper  distance 
from  the  entrance  to  the  jail.  With  a 
watch  in  his  hand,  the  captain  of  the  squad 
gave  the  keepers  ten  minutes  to  open  the 
doors  and  deliver  the  culprits.  I  well  re 
member  the  excitement  that  increased  in 
intensity  as  the  allotted  period  diminished; 
the  fuse  lighted,  and  two  minutes  to  spare; 
the  door  opened;  the  delivery  was  made, 
and  the  march  to  Fort  Gunny  began.  A 
trial  court  had  been  organized  at  which 
the  testimony  was  taken,  verdict  rendered^ 
and  judgment  passed.  From  a  beam  pro 
jecting  over  an  upper  story  window,  used 
for  hoisting  merchandise,  the  convicted 
criminals  were  executed. 

The  means  resorted  to  for  the  puri 
fication  of  the  municipality  were  dras 
tic,  but  the  ensuing  feeling  of  per 
sonal  safety  and  confidence  in  a  new 
administration  appeared  to  be  ample  justi 
fication.  Much  has  been  said  and  written 
in  defense  and  in  condemnation  of  revolu 
tionary  methods  for  the  reformation  of  gov 
ernment.  It  cannot  but  be  apparent  that 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  57 

when  it  is  impossible  to  execute  the  vir 
tuous  purposes  of  government,  the  ma 
chinery  having  passed  to  notorious  vio 
lators,  who  use  it  solely  for  vicious  pur 
pose,  there  seems  nothing  left  for  the  vo 
taries  of  order  than  to  seize  the  reins  with 
strong  right  arm  and  restore  a  status  of 
justice  that  should  be  the  pride  and  glory 
of  all  civilized  people. 

But  what  a  paradox  is  presented 
in  the  disregard  for  law  and  life- 
today  in  our  common  country,  includ 
ing  much  in  our  Southland!  It  is  a  sad 
commentary  on  the  weakness  and  incon- 
sistences  of  human  nature  and  often  starts 
the  inquiry  in  many  honest  minds,  as  a  re 
medial  agency,  is  a  republican  form  of 
government  the  most  conducive  in  secur 
ing  the  blessings  of  liberty  of  which  pro 
tection  to  human  life  is  the  chief? 

For  the  actual  reverse  of  conditions  that 
existed  in  California  in  those  early  days 
are  present  in  others  of  our  States  today. 
All  the  machinery  and  ability  for  the  just 
administration  of  the  law  are  in  the  hands 
of  those  appointed  mainly  by  the  ballot  of 
the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  these  States, 
who,  if  not  participants,  are  quite  as  cen 
surable  for  their  "masterly  inactivity"  in 
having  allowed  thousands  of  the  most  de 
fenceless  to  be  lynched  by  hanging  or  burn 
ing  at  the  stake.  That  there  have  been 
cases  of  assault  on  women  by  Negroes  for 
which  they  have  been  lynched,  it  is  need 
less  to  deny.  That  they  have  been  lynched 
for  threatening:  to  do  bodilv  harm  to  white 


58  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

men  for  actual  assaults  on  the  Negro  wife 
and  daughter  is  equally  true.  The  first 
should  be  denounced  and  arrested  (escape 
being  impossible)  and  by  forms  of  law  suf 
fer  its  extreme  penalty.  The  other  for  the 
cause  they  were  murdered  should  have  the 
highest  admiration  and  the  most  sincere 
plaudits  from  every  honest  man.  Is  it  true 
that  "he  is  a  slave  most  base  whose  love 
of  right  is  for  himself  and  not  for  all  the 
race,"  and  that  the  measure  you  mete  out 
to  others — the  same  shall  be  your  portion. 
All  human  history  verifies  these  aphor 
isms;  and  that  the  perpetrators  and  silent 
abettors  of  this  barbarism  have  sowed  to 
the  winds  a  dire  penalty,  already  being 
reaped,  is  evidenced  by  disregard  of  race 
or  color  of  the  victim  when  mob  law  is  in 
the  ascendant.  And  further,  as  a  salvo  for 
their  own  acts,  white  men  are  allowing  bad 
Negroes  to  lynch  others  of  their  kind  with 
out  enforcing  the  law. 

The  Negro,  apish  in  his  affinity  to  his 
prototype  in  a  "lynching  bee,"  is  beneath 
•contempt. 


1 


IIOX.   CKOIUJK   1J.    \VHITK. 

at  Kosedale,   North  Carolina — Graduate  from  Howard   rniversity  in  1ST; 
acticed  Law  in  all  the  Courts  of  his  State — Member  of  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  in  1880  and  of  Senate  in  1884 — Eight  Years  Prosecuting 
Attorney — Klected  Member  of  the  Fifty-fifth  Congress  us  a 
Rt'publk-un,   With  a   Ilecrtrd   rnimpenrhable. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  59 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Early  in  the  year  1858  gold  was  discov 
ered  on  Eraser  River,  in  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company's  territory  in  the  Northwest. 
This  territory  a  few  months  later  was  or 
ganized  as  the  Colony  of  British  Columbia 
and  absorbed;  is  now  the  western  outlook 
of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  The  discovery 
caused  an  immense  rush  of  gold  seekers, 
traders,  and  speculators  from  all  parts  of 
the  world.  In  June  of  that  year,  with  a 
large  invoice  of  miners'  outfits,  consisting 
of  flour,  bacon,  blankets,  pick,  shovels,  etc., 
I  took  passage  on  steamship  Republic  for 
Victoria.  The  social  atmosphere  on  steam 
ers  whose  patrons  are  chiefly  gold  seekers 
is  unlike  that  on  its  fellow,  where  many 
have  jollity  moderated  by  business  cares, 
others  reserved  in  lofty  consciousness  that 
they  are  on  foreign  pleasure  bent.  With 
the  gold  seeker,  especially  the  "tender 
foot,"  there  is  an  incessant  social  hilarity, 
a  communion  of  feeling,  an  ardent  antici 
pation  that  cannot  be  dormant,  continually 
bubbling  over.  We  had  on  board  upward  of 
seven  hundred,  comprising  a  variety  of 
tongues  and  nations.  The  bustle  and  tur 
moil  incident  to  getting  off  and  being  prep- 
erly  domiciled;  the  confusion  of  tongues 


60  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

and  peculiarity  of  temperament  resembled 
the  Babel  of  old.  Here  the  mercurial  Son 
of  France  in  search  of  a  case  of  red  wine, 
hot  and  impulsive,  belching  forth  "sacres" 
with  a  velocity  well  sustained.  The  phleg 
matic  German  stirred  to  excitability  in 
quest  of  a  "small  cask  of  lager  and  large 
box  of  cheese;7'  John  Chinaman  "Hi  yah'd" 
for  one  "bag  lice  all  samee  hab  one  Meli 
can  man/'  while  a  chivalric  but  seedy-look 
ing  Southerner,  who  seemed  to  have  "seen 
better  days,"  wished  he  "might  be — if  he 
didn't  lay  a  pe-yor  of  boots  thar  whar  that 
blanket  whar."  Not  to  be  lost  in  the  shuf 
fle  was  a  tall  canting  specimen  of  Yankee- 
dom  perched  on  a  water  cask  that  "reck 
oned  ther  is  right  smart  chance  of  folks  on 
this  'ere  ship,"  and  "kalkerlate  that  that 
boat  swinging  thar  war  a  good  place  to 
stow  my  fixings  in."  The  next  day  thor 
ough  system  and  efficiency  was  brought 
out  of  chaos  and  good  humor  prevailed. 
Victoria,  then  the  capital  of  British  Co 
lumbia,  is  situated  on  the  southern  point 
of  Vancouver's  Island.  On  account  of  the 
salubrity  of  its  climate  and  proximity  to 
the  spacious  land-locked  harbor  of  Esqui- 
mault  it  is  delightful  as  a  place  of  resi 
dence  and  well  adapted  to  great  mercan 
tile  and  industrial  possibilities.  It  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company, 
a  very  old,  wealthy,  and  influential  Eng 
lish  trading  company.  Outside  the  com 
pany's  fort,  enclosing  immense  store 
houses,  there  were  but  few  houses.  The 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  61 

nucleus  of  a  town  in  the  shape  of  a  few 
Diocks  laid  out,  and  chiefly  on  paper  maps, 
was  most  that  gave  promise  of  the  popu 
lous  city  of  Victoria  of  the  present.  On 
my  arrival  my  goods  were  sold  at  great  ad 
vance  on  cost,  an  order  for  more  sent  by 
returning  steamer.  I  had  learned  prior  to 
starting  that  city  lots  could  be  bought  for 
one  hundred  dollars  each,  and  had  come 
prepared  to  buy  two  or  three  at  that  price. 
A  few  days  before  my  arrival  what  the  au 
thorities  had  designated  as  the  "land  of 
fice'7  had  been  subjected  to  a  "Yankee 
rush/'  which  had  not  only  taken,  and  paid 
for  all  the  lots  mapped  out,  but  came  near 
appropriating  books,  benches,  and  window 
sashes;  hence  the  office  had  to  close  down 
and  haul  off  for  repairs,  and  surveyed  lots, 
and  would  not  be  open  for  business  for  ten 
days.  Meanwhile  those  that  were  in  at  the 
first  sale  were  still  in,  having  real  estate 
matters  their  own  way.  Steamers  and  sail 
ing  craft  were  constantly  arriving,  dis 
charging  their  human  freight,  that  needed 
food,  houses,  and  outfits  for  the  mines,  giv 
ing  an  impetus  to  property  of  all  kinds  that 
was  amazing  for  its  rapidity.  The  next 
afternoon  after  the  day  of  my  arrival  I 
had  signed  an  agreement  and  paid  one 
hundred  dollars  on  account  for  a  lot  and 
one-story  house  for  $3,000 — f  1,400  more  in 
fifteen  days,  and  the  balance  in  six  months. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  my  goods  ten  days  later 
I  paid  the  second  installment  and  took  pos 
session.  Well,  how  came  I  to  take  a  re 
sponsibility  so  far  beyond  my  first  intended 


62  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

investment?  Just  here  I  rise  to  remark: 
For  effective  purposes  one  must  not  be  un 
duly  sensitive  or  overmodest  in  writing  au 
tobiography — for,  being  the  events  and 
memoirs  of  his  life,  written  by  himself, 
the  ever-present  pronoun  "I"  dances  in 
such  lively  attendance  and  in  such  profu 
sion  on  the  pages  that  whatever  pride  he 
may  have  in  the  events  they  chronicle  is 
somewhat  abashed  at  its  repetition. 

Addison  truly  says:  "There  is  no  pas 
sion  which  steals  into  the  heart  more  im 
perceptible  and  covers  itself  under  more 
disguises  than  pride."  Still,  if  in  such  mem 
oirs  there  be  found  landmarks  of  precept 
or  example  that  will  smooth  the  rugged- 
ness  of  Youth's  pathway,  the  success  of  its 
mission  should  disarm  invidious  criti'cism. 
For  the  great  merit  of  history  or  biography 
is  not  alone  the  events  they  chronicle,  but 
the  value  of  the  thought  they  inspire.  Pre 
vious  to  purchasing  the  property  I  had  cal 
culated  the  costs  of  alteration  and  esti 
mated  the  income.  In  twenty  days,  after 
an  expenditure  of  $200  for  improvements, 
I  found  myself  receiving  a  rental  of  $500 
per  month  from  the  property,  besides  a 
store  for  the  firm.  Anyone  without  me 
chanical  knowledge  with  time  and  oppor 
tunity  to  seek  information  from  others 
may  have  done  the  same,  but  in  this  case 
there  was  neither  time  nor  opportunity; 
it  required  quick  perception  and  prompt 
action.  The  trade  my  mother  insisted  I 
should  learn  enabled  me  to  do  this.  Get 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  63 

a  trade,  boys,  if  you  have  to  live  on  bread 
and  apples  while  attaining  it.  It  is  a  good 
foundation  to  build  higher.  Dton't  crowd 
the  waiters.  If  they  are  content,  give 
them  a  chance.  We  received  a  warm  wel 
come  from  the  Governor  and  other  of 
ficials  of  the  colony,  which  Avas  cheering. 
We  had  no  complaint  as  to  business  pat 
ronage  in  the  State  of  California,  but  there 
was  ever  present  that  spectre  of  oath  de 
nial  and  disfranchiseiiient;  the  disheart 
ening  consciousness  that  while  our  exist 
ence  was  tolerated,  we  were  powerless  to 
appeal  to  law  for  the  protection  of  life  or 
property  when  assailed.  British  Columbia 
offered  and  gave  protection  to  both,  and 
equality  of  political  privileges.  I  cannot 
describe  with  what  joy  we  hailed  the  op 
portunity  to  enjoy  that  liberty  under  the 
"British  lion"  denied  us  beneath  the  pin 
ions  of  the  American  Eagle.  Three  or  four 
hundred  colored  men  from  California  and 
other  States,  with  their  families,  settled  in 
Victoria,  drawn  thither  by  the  two-fold  in 
ducement — gold  discovery  and  the  assur 
ance  of  enjoying  impartially  the  benefits 
of  constitutional  liberty.  They  built  or 
bought  homes  and  other  property,  and  by 
industry  and  character  vastly  improved 
their  condition  and  were  the  recipients  of 
respect  and  esteem  from  the  community. 

An  important  step  in  a  man's  life  is  his 
marriage.  It  being  the  merging  of  dual 
lives,  it  is  only  by  mutual  self-abnegation 


•64  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

that  it  can  be  made  a  source  of  content 
ment  and  happiness.  In  1859,  in  consum 
mation  of  promise  and  purpose,  I  returned 
(o  the  United  States  and  was  married  to 
Mi- s-Maria  A.  Alexander,  of  Kentucky, 
-educated  at  Oberlin  College,  Ohio.  After 
visits  to  friends  in  Buffalo  and  my  friend 
Frederick  Douglass  at  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
thence  to  Philadelphia  and  New  York 
City,  where  we  took  steamship  for  our  long 
journey  of  4,000  miles  to  our  intended 
home  at  Victoria,  Vancouver  Island.  1 
have  had  a  model  wife  in  all  that  the  term 
implies,  and  she  has  had  a  husband  mi 
gratory  and  uncertain.  We  have  been 
blessed  with  five  children,  four  of  whom 
~are  living — Donald  F.,  Horace  E.,  Ida  A., 
and  Hattie  A.  Gribbs;  Donald  a  machinist, 
Horace  a  printer  by  trade.  Ida  graduated 
as  an  A.  B.  from  Oberlin  College  and  is 
now  teacher  of  English  in  the  High  School 
at  Washington,  D.  C.;  Hattie  a  graduate 
from  the  Conservatory  of  Music  at  Oberlin, 
Ohio,  and  was  professor  of  music  at  the 
Eckstein-Norton  University  at  Cave 
Springs,  Ky.,  and  now  musical  director  of 
public  schools  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

In  passing  through  the  States  in  1859  an 
unrest  was  everywhere  observable.  The 
pulsebeatof  the  great  national  heart  quick 
ened  at  impending  danger.  The  Supreme 
Court  had  made  public  the  Dred  Scott  de 
cision;  John  Brown  had  organized  an  in 
surrection;  Stephen  A.  Douglass  and 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  65 

Abraham  Lincoln  at  the  time  were  in  ex 
citing  debate;  William  H.  Seward  was  pro 
claiming  the  "irrepressible  conflict."  With 
other  signs  portentous,  culminating  in  se 
cession  and  events  re-enacting  history— 
for  that  the  causes  and  events  of  which 
history  is  the  record  are  being  continu 
ously  re-enacted  from  a  moral  standpoint 
is  of  easy  observation.  History,  as  the  nar 
ration  of  the  actions  of  men,  with  attend 
ant  results,  is  but  a  repetition.  Different 
minds  and  other  hands  may  be  the  instru 
ments,  but  the  effects  from  any  given 
course  involving  fundamental  principles 
are  the  same.  This  was  taught  by  philoso 
phers  2,000  years  ago,  some  insisting  that 
not  only  was  this  repetition  observable  in 
the  moral  world,  but  that  the  physical 
world  was  repeated  in  detail — that  every 
person,  every  blade  of  grass,  all  nature, 
animate  and  inanimate,  reappeared  upon 
the  earth,  engaged  in  the  same  pursuits, 
and  fulfilling  the  same  ends  formerly  ac 
complished. 

However  skeptical  we  may  be  as  to 
this  theory  of  the  ancients,  the  stu 
dent  of  modern  history  has  accom 
plished  little  if  he  fails  to  be  impressed 
with  the  important  truth  standing  out  on 
every  page  in  letters  of  living  light — that 
this  great  world  of  ours  is  governed  by  a 
system  of  moral  and  physical  laws  that  are 
as  unerring  in  the  bestowal  of  rewards  as 
certain  in  the  infliction  of  penalties.  The 
history  of  our  own  country  is  one  that 


66  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

will  ever  be  an  exemplification  of  this  pre 
eminent  truth.  The  protests  of  the  vic 
tims  of  oppression  in  the  old  world  re 
sulted  in  a  moral  upheaval  and  the  estab 
lishment  by  force  of  arms  of  a  Republic  in 
America.  The  Revolutionary  Congress,  of 
which,  in  adopting  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion,  closed  with  this  solemn  injunction: 
"Let  it  be  remembered  that  it  has  been  the 
pride  and  boast  of  America  that  the  rights 
for  which  she  contended  were  the  rights  of 
human  nature."  And  it  was  reserved  for 
the  founders  of  this  nation  to  establish  in 
the  words  of  an  illustrious  benefactor,  "a 
Government  of  the  people,  for  the  people, 
and  by  the  people" — a  Government  deriv 
ing  all  its  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed,  where  freedom  of  opinion, 
whether  relating  to  Church  or  State,  was 
to  have  the  widest  scope  and  fullest  ex 
pression  consistent  with  private  rights 
and  public  good — where  the  largest  indi 
viduality  could  be  developed  and  the  patri 
cian  and  plebeian  meet  on  a  "common  level 
and  aspire  to  the  highest  honor  within  the 
gift  of  the  people. 

This  was  its  character,  this  its  mis 
sion.  How  it  has  sustained  the  char 
acter,  how  fulfilled  the  mission  upon 
which  it  entered,  the  impartial  historian 
has  indited,  every  page  of  which  is  redo 
lent  with  precept  and  example  that  point 
a  moral. 

With  the  inauguration  of  republican 
government  in  America  the  angel  of 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  67 

freedom  and  the  demon  of  slavery  wrestled 
for  the  mastery.  Tallyrand  has  beauti 
fully  and  forcibly  said:  "The  Lily  and 
Thistle  may  grow  together  in  harmonious 
proximity,  but  liberty  and  slavery  delight 
in  the  separation.7'  The  pronounced  pol 
icy  of  the  best  minds  at  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  was  to  repress  it 
as  an  institution  inhuman  in  its  character 
and  fraught  with  mischief.  Foretelling 
with  accuracy  of  divine  inspiration,  Jeffer 
son  "trembled  for  his  country"  when  he  re 
membered  that  God  was  just  and  that 
"His  justice  would  not  sleep  forever."  Pat 
rick  Henry  said  "that  a  serious  view  of 
this  subject  gives  a  gloomy  prospect  to  fu 
ture  times."  So  Mason  and  other  patriots 
wrote  and  felt,  fully  impressed  that  the 
high,  solid  gTound  of  right  and  justice  had 
been  left  for  the  bogs  and  mire  of  expedi 
ency. 

They  died,  leaving  this  heritage  grow 
ing  stronger  and  bolder  in  its  assump 
tion  of  power  and  permeating  every  ar 
tery  of  society.  The  cotton  gin  was  in 
vented  and  the  demand  for  'cotton  vaulted 
into  the  van  of  the  commerce  of  the  coun 
try.  Men,  lured  by  the  gains  of  slavery 
and  corrupted  by  its  contact,  sought  by  in 
famous  reasoning  and  vicious  legislation, 
to  avert  the  criticism  of  men  and  the  judg 
ment  of  God.  In  the  words  of  our  immor 
tal  Douglass,  "To  bolster  up  and  make  tol 
erable  what  was  intolerable;  to  make  hu 
man  what  was  inhuman;  to  make  divine 


68  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

what  was  infernal."  To  make  this  giant 
wrong'  acceptable  to  the  moral  sense  it  was 
averred  and  enacted  that  slavery  was 
right;  that  God  himself  had  so  predeter 
mined  in  His  wisdom ;  that  the  slave  could 
be  branded  and  sold  on  the  auction  blo'ck ; 
that  the  babe  could  be  ruthlessly  taken 
from  its  mother  and  given  away;  that  a 
family  could  be  scattered  by  sale,  to  meet 
no  more;  that  to  teach  a  slave  to  read  was 
punishable  with  death  to  the  teacher.  But 
why  rehearse  this  dead  past — this  terrible 
night  of  suffering  and  gloom?  Why  not 
let  its  remembrance  be  effaced  and  forgot 
ten  in  the  glorious  light  of  a  happier  day? 
I  answer,  Why? 

All  measure  of  value,  all  estimates  of 
greatness,  of  joy  or  sorrow,  of  health  or 
suffering,  are  relative;  we  judge  by  pom- 
parison,  and  if  in  recalling  these  former 
depths  we  temper  unreasonable  criticism 
of  waning  friendships,  accelerate  effort  as 
we  pass  the  mile-stones  of  achievement, 
and  stimulate  appreciation  of  liberty  in 
the  younger  generation,  the  mention  will 
not  be  fruitless. 

But  to  the  resume  of  this  rapid  state 
ment  of  momentous  events:  Meanwhile, 
the  slave,  patient  in  his  longings,  prayed 
for  deliverance.  Truly  has  it  been  said  by 
Elihu  Burrit  that  "you  may  take  a  man 
and  yoke  him  to  your  labor  as  you  yoke 
the  ox  that  worketh  to  live,  and  liveth  to 
work;  you  may  surround  him  with  ignor 
ance  and  cloud  him  over  with  artificial 


SHADOW  AM)    LKJHT.  69 

night.  You  may  do  this  and  all  else  that 
will  degrade  him  as  a  man,  without  injur 
ing  his  value  as  a  slave;  yet  the  idea  that 
he  was  born  to  be  free  will  survive  it  all. 
Tis  allied  to  his  hope  of  immortality— the 
ethereal  part  of  his  nature  which  oppres 
sion  cannot  reach.  7Tis  the  torch  lit  up  in 
his  soul  by  the  omnipotent  hand  of  Deity 
Himself."  The  true  and  tried  hosts  of  free 
dom,  represented  and  led  by  Garrison, 
Douglass,  Lovejoy,  Phillips,  Garnet,  Har 
riet  Beecher  Stowe,  and  Frances  Ellen 
Harper,  and  others — few  compared  to  the 
indifferent  and  avowed  defenders  of  slav 
ery,  welcoming  outrage  and  ostracism,  by 
pen  and  on  forum,  from  hilltop  and  valley, 
proclaimed  emancipation  as  the  right  of 
the  slave  and  the  duty  of  the  master.  The 
many  heroic  efforts  of  the  anti-slavery  pha 
lanx  were  not  without  effect,  and  deter 
mined  resistance  was  made  to  the  admis 
sion  of  more  slave  territory  which  was  in 
accordance  with  the  "Proviso''  prohibiting 
slavery  in  the  Northwest.  Slavery  con 
trolled  the  Government  from  its  com 
mencement,  hence  its  supporters  looked 
with  alarm  upon  an  increasing  determina 
tion  to  stay  its  progress. 

California  had  been  admitted  as  a  free 
State,  after  a  struggle  the  most  severe.  Its 
admission  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  very  able 
leader  of  the  slave  power,  regarded  as  the 
death-knell  of  slavery,  if  the  institution  re 
mained  within  the  union  and  counseled  se 
cession.  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Mad- 


70  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

ison,  in  despair  at  the  growth  of  slavery; 
Calhoun  at  that  of  freedom.  But  how 
could  this  inarch  of  moral  progress  and  na 
tional  greatness  be  arrested?  Congress 
had,  in  1787,  enacted  that  all  the  territory 
not  then  States  should  forever  be  reserved 
to  freedom.  The  slave  power  saw  the 
"handwriting  on  the  wall"  surround  it 
with  a  cordon  of  free  States;  increase 
their  representatives  in  Congress  advocat 
ing  freedom,  and  slavery  is  doomed.  The 
line  cherished  by  the  founders,  the  Gi 
braltar  against  which  slavery  had  dashed 
its  angry  billows,  must  be  blotted  out,  and 
over  every  rod  of  virgin  ^oil  it  was  to  be 
admitted  without  let  or  hindrance. 

Then  came  the  dark  days  of  compromise, 
the  era  of  Northern  fear  of  secession,  and, 
finally,  opinion  crystallizing  into  legisla 
tion  non-committal,  viz:  That  States  ap 
plying  for  admission  should  be  admitted 
as  free  or  slave  States,  as  a  majority  of 
their  inhabitants  might  determine.  Then 
came  the  struggle  for  Kansas.  Emigration 
societies  were  fitted  out  in  the  New  Eng 
land  and  Northern  States  to  send  free 
State  men  to  locate  who  would  vote  to 
bring  in  Kansas  as  a  free  State.  Similar 
organizations  existed  in  the  slave  States 
for  the  opposite  purpose. 

It  is  not  pleasant  to  dwell  nor  fitly  por 
tray  the  terrible  ordeal  through  which  the 
friends  of  freedom  passed.  In  1859  they 
succeeded;  right  and  justice  were  trium 
phant,  the  beneficial  results  of  which  will 


HON.  JOHN  M.  LANGSTON. 

Born    in    Louisa   Country,    \a. — Educated    at    Oberlin,    Ohio — Member    Hoard    of 
Health,    District  of  Columbia   in   1871 — Minister   Resident   ami  Consul- 
General  to  Port-au-1'riuce.  Hayti,   1877 — Elected  to  Congress 
from  Fourth  Congressional   District  of  Virginia   in 
1890— Author  of  "Fre-edom  ami  Citizenship" 
jund  "From  the  Virginia  Plantation 
to  the  National  Capitol." 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  71 

roach  remotest  time.  It  was  in  this  con 
flict  that  the  heroism  of  John  Brown  de 
veloped.  It  was  there  he  saw  his  kindred 
and  his  friends  murdered,  and  there  reg 
istered  his  vow  to  avenge  their  blood  in 
the  disenthralment  of  the  slave.  The  com 
peers  of  this  "grand  old  man"  or  people  of 
the  nation  could  have  scarcely  supposed 
that  this  man,  hitherto  obscure,  was  to  be 
the  instrument  of  retributive  justice,  to  in 
augurate  a  rebellion  which  was  to  culmi 
nate  in  the  freedom  of  4,000,000  slaves. 
John  Brown,  at  the  head  of  a  few  devoted 
men,  at  Harper's  Ferry,  struck  the  blow 
that  echoed  and  re-echoed  in  booming  gun 
and  flashing  sabre  until,  dying  away  in 
whispered  cadence,  was  hushed  in  the  joy- 
ousness  of  a  free  nation.  John  Brown  Avas 
great  because  he  was  good,  and  good  be 
cause  he  was  great,  with  the  bravery  of  a 
warrior  and  the  tenderness  of  a  child,  lov 
ing  liberty  as  a  mother  her  first  born,  he 
scorned  to  compromise  with  slavery.  Vir 
ginia  demanded  his  blood  and  he  gave  it, 
making  the  spot  on  which  he  fell  sacred 
for  all  time,  upon  which  posterity  will  see 
a  monument  in  commemoration  of  an  ef 
fort,  grand  m  its  magnanimity,  to  which 
the  devotees  of  liberty  from  every  clime 
can  repair  to  breathe  anew  an  inspiration 
from  its  shrine — 

"For  whether  on  the  gallows  high 

Or  in  the  battle's  van, 
The  noblest  place  for  man  to  die 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man." 


72  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

j 

The  slave  power,  defeated  in  Kansas, 
fearful  of  the  result  of  the  vote  in  other 
territories  to  determine  their  future  status, 
found  aid  and  comfort  from  Judge  Taney, 
a  Supreme  Judge  of  the  United  States. 
Bancroft,  the  historian,  has  said:  "In  a 
great  Republic  an  attempt  to  overthrow  a 
State  owes  its  strength  to  and  from  some 
branch  of  the  Government.7'  'Tis  said  that 
this  Chief  Justice,  without  necessity  or  oc 
casion,  volunteered  to  come  to  the  rescue 
of  slavery,  and,  being  the  highest  court 
known  to  the  law,  the  edict  was  final,  and 
no  appeal  could  lie,  save  to  the  bar  of  hu 
manity  and  history.  Against  the  memory 
of  the  nation,  against  decisions  and  enact 
ments,  lie  announced  that,  slaves  being 
property,  owners  could  claim  constitu 
tional  protection  in  the  territories;  that 
the  Constitution  upheld  slavery  against 
any  act  of  a  State  Legislature,  and  even 
against  Congress.  Slavery,  previous  to 
1850,  was  regulated  by  municipal  law;  the 
slave  was  held  by  virtue  of  the  laws  of  the 
State  of  his  location  or  of  kindred  ^slave 
States.  When  he  escaped  that  jurisdiction 
he  was  free.  By  the  decision  of  Judge 
Taney,  instead  of  slavery  being  local,  it 
was  national  and  freedom  outlawed;  the 
slave  could  not  only  be  reclaimed  in  any 
State,  but  slavery  could  be  established 
wherever  it  sought  habitation. 

Black  laws  had  been  passed  in  Northern 
States. and  United  States  Commissioners 
appointed  in  these .  States  searched  for 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  73 

fugitives,  where  they  had,  in  fancied  secur 
ity,  resided  for  years,  built  homes,  and 
reared  families,  seizing  and  remanding 
them  back  into  slavery,  causing  an  era  of 
terror,  family  dismemberment,  and  flight, 
only  to  be  remembered  with  sadness  and 
horror.  For  had  not  the  heartless  dictum 
come  from  a  Chief  Justice  of  the  United 
States — the  "Jeffry  of  American  jurispru 
dence,"  that  it  had  been  ruled  that  black 
men  had  no  rights  a  white  man  was  bound 
to  respect? 

The  slave  power,  fortified  with  this  dec 
laration,  resolved  that  if  at  the  approach 
ing  election  they  did  not  succeed  they 
•would  secede.  Lincoln  was  elected,  and  the 
South,  true  to  its  resolve,  prepared  for  the 
secession  of  its  States.  Pennsylvania  is 
credited  with  having  then  made  the  last 
and  meanest  gift  to  the  Presidency  in  the 
person  of  James  Buchanan.  Histor}^  tells 
of  a  Nero  who  fiddled  while  Rome  burned. 
The  valedictory  of  this  public  functionary 
breathing  aid  and  comfort  to  secession, 
was  immediately  followed  by  South  Caro 
lina  firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  Southern 
Senators  advised  their  constituents  to 
seize  the  arsenals  and  ports  of  the  nation. 
Rebellion  was  a  fact. 


74  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  the  President-elect, 
was  the  legitimate  outgrowth  of  American 
institutions;  in  him  was  presented  choice 
fruit,  the  product  of  republican  govern 
ment.  Born  in  a  log  cabin,  of  poor,  unedu 
cated  parents,  his  only  aids  untiring  in 
dustry,  determination,  and  lofty  purpose. 
Hewing  out  his  steps  on  the  rugged  rocks 
of  poverty,  climbing  the  mountains  of  dif 
ficulty,  and  attaining  the  highest  honor 
within  the  gift  of  the  nation — "truly  a  self- 
made  man,  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,"  says  a  writer,  "being  his  daily  com 
pendium  of  wisdom,  the  life  of  Washing 
ton  his  daily  study,  with  something  of  Jef 
ferson,  Madison,  and  Clay."  For  the  rest, 
from  day  to  day,  he  lived  the  life  of  the 
American  people;  walked  in  its  light;  rea 
soned  with  its  reason;  thought  with  its 
powers  of  thought,  and  felt  the  beatings  of 
its  mighty  heart."  In  1858  he  came  promi 
nently  forward  as  the  rival  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglass,  and,  with  wealth  of  argu 
ment,  terseness  of  logic,  and  enunciation 
of  just  principles,  took  front  rank  among 
sturdy  Republicans,  battling  against  the 
extension  of  human  slavery,  declaring  that 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 
The  Emancipator. 

The  Embodiment  of  Patriotism  and  Justice.  "I  hope  peace   will  come  to  stay,  and  then 

there  will  be  some  colored  men  who  can  remember  that  they  helped  mankind 

to  this  great  consummation." 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  75 

"the  nation  could  not  endure  half  free  and 
half  slave." 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  he  took  the 
oath  of  office  and  commenced  his  Admin 
istration.  With  confidence  and,  doubt  al 
ternating,  our  interest  as  a  race  became 
intensified.  We  knew  the  South  had  re 
belled;  we  were  familiar  with  the  pagan 
proverb  "Those  whom  the  gods  would  de 
stroy  they  first  made  mad."  We  had 
watched  the  steady  growth  of  Republican 
ism,  when  a  tinge  on  the  political  horizon 
"no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand,"  increase  in 
magnitude  and  power  and  place  its  stand 
ard-bearer  in  the  White  House.  But  for 
mer  Presidents  had  professed  to  hate  slav 
ery.  President  Fillmore  had,  yet  signed 
the  fugitive  slave  law;  Pierce  and  Bu 
chanan  had  both  Avielded  the  administra 
tive  arm  in  favor  of  slavery.  We  had  seen 
Daniel  Webster,  Massachusetts'  ablest 
jurist,  and  the  most  learned  constitutional 
expounder — the  man  of  wrhom  it  was  said 
that  "when  he  speaks  God's  own  thunder 
can  be  seen  pent  up  in  his  brow  and  God's 
own  lightning  flash  from  his  eye" — a  man 
sent  by  the  best  cultured  of  New  England 
to  represent  the  most  advanced  civiliza 
tion  of  the  century — we  had  seen  this  bril 
liant  star  of  anti-slavery  Massachusetts 
"pale  _  his  ineffectual  fires"  before  the 
steady  glare,  the  intolerance,  blandish 
ment,  and  corrupting  influences  of  the 
slave  power — and  tell  the  nation  they 
must  compromise  with  slavery. 


76  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

When  Daniel  O'Connell,  Ireland's  states 
man  and  philanthropist,  was  approached 
in  Parliament  by  West  India  planters  with 
promises  of  support  for  measures  for  the 
relief  of  Ireland  if  he  would  vote  in  the 
interest  of  slavery  in  British  colonies,  he 
said:  "  'Tis  true,  gentlemen,  that  I  repre 
sent  a  poor  constituency- — God  only  knows 
how  poor;  but  may  calamity  and  afflic 
tion  overtake  me  if  ever  I,  to  help  Ireland, 
vote  to  enslave  the  Negro."  A  noble  ut 
terance!  Unlike  the  Northern  representa 
tives  sent  to  Congress,  who  "bent  the  pli 
ant,  servile  knee  that  thrift  might  follow 
fawning.'-  What  wonder  our  race  was 
keenly  alive  to  the  situation?  The  hour 
had  arrived— was  the  man  there? 

For  Abraham  Lincoln  impartial  history 
will  answer  "Nor  memory  lose,  nor  time  im 
pair"  his  nobility  of  character  for  human 
ity  and  patriotism  that  will  ever  ennoble 
and  inspire.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  slow  to  be 
lieve  that  the  rebellion  would  assume  the 
proportions  that  it  did,  but  he  placed  him 
self  squarely  on  the  issue  in  his  inaugural 
address:  "That  he  should,  to  the  extent  of 
his  ability,  take  care  that  the  laws  of  the 
nation  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the 
States;  that  in  doing  it  there  would  be  no 
bloodshed  unless  it  was  forced  upon  the 
national  authority."  His  patriotism  and 
goodness  welling  up  as'he  said:  "We  Tire 
not  enemies,  but  friends,  though  we  may 
have  strained,  it  must  hot- break  mir  bonds 
of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory, 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  77 

stretching  from  every  battlefield  and 
hearthstone,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of 
the  Union  when  again  touched  by  the  bet 
ter  angels  of  our  nature,7' 

"But  the  die  was  cast; 
Ruthless  rapine  righteous  hope  defied." 

The  necessity  for  calling  the  nation  to 
arms  was  imminent  on  the  15th  of  April, 
1861;  the  call  for  75,000  men  rang  like  a 
trumpet  blast,  startling  the  most  apa 
thetic.  The  response  from  the  Northern 
and  portions  of  the  Southern  States  was 
hearty  and  prompt.  The  battle  at  Bull 
Run  dispelled  the  President's  idea  that  the 
war  was  to  be  of  short  duration.  Defeat  fol 
lowed  defeat  of  the  national  forces;  weep 
ing  and  wailing  went  up  from  many  fire 
sides  for  husbands  and  sons  who  had  laid 
down  on  Southern  battlefields  to  rest.  The 
great  North,  looking  up  for  succor,  saw  the 
"national  banner  drooping  from  the  flag 
staff,  heavy  with  blood,"  and  typical  of  the 
stripes  of  the  slave.  For  200  years  the  in 
cense  of  his  prayers  and  tears  had 
ascended.  Now  from  every  booming  gun 
there  seemed  the  voice  of  God,  "Let  my 
people  go"- 

"They  see  Him  in  watch  fires 

Of  a  hundred  circling  camps; 
They  read  His  righteous  sentence 
By  the  dim  and  flaring  lamps." 

The  nation  had  come  slowly  but  firmly 
up  to  the  duty  and  necessity  of  emancipa- 


78  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

tion.  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  now  in  accord 
with  Garrison,  Phillips,  Douglass,  and 
their  adherents,  had  counseled  them  to 
continue  urging  the  people  to  this  demand, 
now  pressing  as  a  miltary  necessity.  The 
1st  of  January,  1863,  being  the  maturity 
of  the  proclamation,  lifted  4,000,000  of  hu 
man  beings  from  chattels  to  freemen,  a 
grateful,  praying  people.  Throughout  the 
North  and  wherever  possible  in  the  South 
the  colored  people,  on  the  night  of  Decem 
ber  31,  assembled  in  their  churches  for 
thanksgiving.  On  their  knees  in  silence — a 
silence  intense  with  suppressed  emotion — 
they  awaited  the  stroke- of  the  clock.  It 
came,  the  thrice-welcomed  harbinger  of 
freedom,  and  as  it  tolled  on,  and  on,  the 
knell  of  slavey,  pent-up  joy  could  no 
longer  be  restrained.  "Praise  God,  from 
whom  all  blessings  flow,"  from  a  million 
voices,  floated  upward  on  midnight  air. 
While  some  shouted  "Hallelujah,"  others, 
with  folded  arms,  stood  mute  and  fixed  as 
statuary,  w^hile  "Tears  of  joy  like  summer 
raindrops  pierced  by  sunbeams"  fell. 

When  Robespierre  and  Danton  disen 
thralled  France,  we  learn  that  the  guillo: 
tine  bathed  in  blood  was  the  emblem  of 
their  transition  state,  from  serfs  to  free 
men.  With  the  Negro  were  the  antithesis 
of  anger,  revenge,  or  despair,  that  of  joy, 
gratitude,  and  hope,  has  been  memory's 
most  choice  trio. 

This  master  stroke  of  policy  and  jus 
tice  came  with  telling  effect  upon  the 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  79 

consciousness  of  the  people.  It  was 
now  in  deed  and  in  truth  a  war  for  the 
Union  coeval  with  freedom;  every  patriot 
heart  beat  a  responsive  echo,  and  was 
stirred  by  a  new  inspiration  to  deeds  of 
heroism.  Now  success  followed  success; 
Port  Hudson,  Yicksburg,  Chattanooga, 
Gettysburg-,  and  the  Mississippi  bowed  in 
submission  to  the  national  power.  The 
record  of  history  affirms  subsequent  events 
that  during  the  ensuing  twelve  months 
war  measures  more  gigantic  than  had  been 
witnessed  in  modern  times  were  inaug 
urated;  how  the  will  of  the  people  to 
subdue  the  rebellion  crystallized  as  iron; 
that  General  Grant,  planting  himself  be 
fore  Richmond,  said  he  would  "fight  it  out 
on  that  line  if  it  took  all  summer/'  and 
General  Sherman's  memorable  march  fifty 
thousand  strong  from  Atlanta  to  the  sea. 
General  Grant's  campaign  ended  in  the 
surrender  of  General  Lee,  and  Peace,  with 
its  golden  pinions,  alighted  on  our  national 
staff. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  again  elected 
President,  the  people  seeming  impressed 
with  the  wisdom  of  his  quaint  phrase  that 
"it  was  best  not  to  swap  horses  while 
crossing  a  stream."  Through  all  the  vi 
cissitudes  of  his  first  term  he  justified  the 
unbounded  confidence  of  the  nation,  sup 
porting  writh  no  laggard  hand,  cheering 
and  inspiring  the  citizen  soldier  with  noble 
example  and  kindly  word.  The  reconstruc 
tion  acts,  legislation  for  the  enrollment  of 


80  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

the  colored  soldier,  and  every  other  meas 
ure  of  enfranchisement  received  his  hearty 
approval,  remarking  at  one  time,  with 
much  feeling,  that  4'I  hope  peace  will  come 
to  stay,  and  there  will  be  some  black  men 
that  can  remember  that  they  helped  man 
kind  to  this  great  consummation." 

Did  the  colored  troops  redeem  the 
promise  made  by  their  friends  when 
their  enlistment  was  determined?  His 
tory  records  exhibitions  of  bravery  ancl 
endurance  which  gave  their  survivors 
and  descendants  a  claim  as  imper 
ishable  as  eternal  justice.  Go  back  to 
the  swamps  of  the  Carolinas,  the  Savan 
nahs  of  Florida,  the  jungles  of  Arkansas, 
or  on  the  dark  bosom  of  the  Mississippi. 
Look  where  you  may,  the  record  of  their 
rugged  pathway  still  blossoms  with  deeds 
of  noble  daring,  self-abnegation  and  a  holy 
devotion  to  the  central  ideas  of  the  war — 
the  freedom  of  the  slave,  a  necessity  for 
the  salvation  of  free  government. 

The  reading  of  commanders'  reports  bring 
no  blush  of  shame.  At  the  terrific  assault 
on  Fort  Hudson,  General  Banks  reported 
they  answered  "every  expectation ;  no  troops 
could  have  been  more  daring."  General 
Butler  tells  of  his  transformation  from  a 
war  Democrat  to  a  radical.  Hiding  out  at 
early  morn  to  view  the  battlefield,  where 
a  few  hours  before  shot  and  shell  flew  thick 
and  fast,  skillfully  guiding  his  horse,  that 
hoofs  should  not  profane  the  sacred  dead, 
he  there  saw  in  sad  confusion  where  lav 


BISHOP  W.   B.   DERRICK. 

Horn  July,  1843,  Antique.  Bristol,  West  Indies— Educated  at  Graeeville,  W.  I. 
OMaLned  Deacon  in  1S(!.S,  ;.nd  now  one  of  the  Foremost  Bishops  of  the 
A.  M.  E.  Church — Noted  for  Wisdom  of  Counsel  and  Great  Ability. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  81 

the  white  and  black  soldier,  who  had  gone 
down  together.  The  appeal,  though  mute, 
was  irresistible.  Stopping  his  horse  and 
raising  his  hand  in  the  cold,  grey  light  to 
heaven,  said:  "May  niy  tongue  cleave  to 
the  roof  of  my  mouth  and  niy  right  hand 
forget  its  cunning  if  I  ever  cease  to  insist 
upon  equal  justice  to  the  colored  man."' 
It  was  at  the  unequal  light  at  Milliken's 
Bend;  it  was  at  Forts  Wagner  and  Pillow, 
at  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  the  colored 
troops  asked  to  be  assigned  the  posts  of 
danger,  and  there  before  the  iron  hail  of 
the  enemy's  musketry  "they  fell  forward 
as  fits  a  man."  In  our  memory  and  affec 
tions  they  deserve  a  fitting  place  "as  those 
long  loved,  and  but  for  a  season  gone." 

Slavery,  shorn  of  its  power,  nurtured  re 
venge.  On  the  14th  day  of  April,  1865, 
while  sitting  Avith  his  family  at  a  public 
exhibition,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  assassi 
nated,  and  the  nation  was  in  tears.  Never 
was  lamentation  so  widespread,  nor  grief 
so  deep;  the  cabin  of  the  lowly,  the  lordly 
"mansion  of  wealth,  the  byways  and  high 
ways,  gave  evidence  of  a  people's  sorrow. 
"Men  moved  about  with  clinched  teeth  and 
bowed-down  heads  ;  women  bathed  in  tears 
and  found  relief,  while  little  children 
asked  their  mothers  why  all  the  people 
looked  so  mournful,"  and  we,  as  we  came 
up  out  of  Egypt,  lifted  up  our  voices  and 
wept.  Our  friend  was  no  more,  but  iu- 
in  the  hearts  of  his  countrmen 


(6) 


8:2  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

as  one  who  did  much  "to  keep  the  jewel 
of  liberty  in  the  family  of  nations." 

Since  that  eventful  period  the  Negro  has 
had  a  checkered  career,  passing  through 
the  reconstruction  period,  with  its  many 
lights  and  shadows,  despite  the  assaults  of 
prejudice  and  prescription  by  exclusion 
from  most  of  the  remunerative  callings  and 
avocations,  partiality  in  sentencing  him  to 
the  horrors  of  the  chain-gang,  lynching, 
and  burning  at  the  stake.  Despite  all  these 
he  has  made  progress — a  progress  often 
unfairly  judged  by  the  dominant  race. 
Douglass  has  pithily  said:  "Judge  us  not 
from  the  heights  on  which  you  stand,  but 
from  the  depths  from  whence  we  sprung.'7 
So,  with  a  faith  and  hope  undaunted,  we 
scan  our  country  horizon  for  the  silver  lin 
ing  propitious  of  a  happier  day. 

Regarding  that  crime  of  crimes,  lynch 
ing  by  hanging  and  burning  human  beings, 
a  barbarity  unknown  in  the  civilized  world 
save  in  our  country,  it  is  cheering  to  ob 
serve  an  awakening  of  the  moral  sense  evi 
denced  by  noble  and  manly  utterance  of 
leading  journals,  notably  those  of  Arkan 
sas;  the  Governor  of  Georgia,  and  other 
Southern  Governors  and  statesmen,  have 
spoken  in  derogation  of  this  giant  crime. 

When  others  of  like  standing  and  State 
influence  shall  so  pronounce,  this  hideous 
blot  upon  the  national  escutcheon  will  dis 
appear.  It  is  manly  and  necessary  to  pro 
test  when  wronged.  But  a  subject  class 
rr  race?  does  but  little  for  their  ameliora- 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  83 

tion  when  content  with  its  denouncement. 
Injustice  can  be  more  effectually  arraigned 
by  others  than  the  victim;  his  mere  proc 
lamation,  however  distinct  and  unanswer 
able,  will  be  slow  of  fruition.  A  measure 
of  relief  comes  from  the  humane  sympa 
thies  of  the  philanthropist,  but  the  inher 
ent  attraction  of  forces  (less  sympathetic, 
perhaps,  though  indispensable)  for  his  real 
uplifting  and  protection  will  be  in  the  ratio 
of  his  morality,  learning,  and  wealth.  For 
vice  is  ever  destructive;  ignorance  ever  a 
victim,  and  poverty  ever  defenceless.  Mor 
ality  should  be  ever  in  the  foreground  of 
all  effort,  for  mere  learning  or  even  wealth 
will  not  make  a  class  of  brave,  honest  men 
and  useful  citizens;  there  must  be  ever  an 
intensity  of  purpose  based  upon  convic 
tions  of  truth,  and  "the  inevitable  oneness 
of  physical  and  moral  strength/7  St.  Pierre 
de  Couberton,  an  eminent  French  writer 
on  education  and  training,  has  pertinently 
said:  "Remember  that  from  the  cradle  to 
the  grave  struggle  is  the  essence  of  life, 
as  it  is  the  unavoidable  aim,  the  real  life 
bringer  of  all  the  sons  of  men.  Existence 
is  a  fight,  and  has  to  be  fought  out;  self-de 
fence  is  a  noble  art,  and  must  be  practiced. 
Never  seek  a  quarrel,  but  never  shun  one, 
and  if  it  seeks  you,  be  sure  and  fight  to 
the  last,  as  long  as  strength  is  given  you 
to  stand,  guard  your  honesty  of  purpose, 
your  good  faith;  beware  of  all  false  seem 
ing,  of  all  pretence,  cultivate  arduous 
tasks^  aspire  to  what  is  difficult,  and  do 


84:  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

persistently  what  is  uncomfortable  and  un 
pleasant;  love  effort  passionately,  for  with 
out  effort  there  can  be  no  manliness;  there 
fore  acquire  the  habit  of  self-restraint,  the 
habit  of  painful  effort,  physical  pain,  is  a 
useful  one."  With  such  purpose  the  Negro 
should  have  neither  servility,  bitterness, 
nor  regret,  but  "instinct  with  the  life  of  the 
present  rise  with  the  impulse  of  the  age." 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  85 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

My  election  to  the  Common  Council  of 
the  City  of  Victoria,  Vancouver  Island,  in 
1866,  was  my  first  entry  to  political  life, 
followed  by  re-election  for  succeeding 
term. 

The  exercise  of  the  franchise  at  the  polls 
was.  by  "viva  voce,"  the  voter  proclaiming 
his  vote  by  stating  the  name  of  the  candi 
date  for  whom  he  voted  in  a  distinct  voice, 
which  was  audited  on  the  rolls  by  clerks  of 
both  parties. 

Alike  all  human  contrivances,  this  mode 
of  obtaining  the  popular  will  has  its  merits 
and  demerits.  For  the  former  it  has  the 
impossibility  of  ballot-stuffing,  for  the  by 
stander  can  keep  accurate  tally;  also  the 
opportunity  for  the  voter  to  display  the 
courage  of  his  conviction,  which  is  ever 
manly  and  the  purpose  of  a  representative 
Commonwealth.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may 
fail  to  register  the  desire  of  the  voter 
whose  financial  or  other  obligation  may 
make  it  impolitic  to  thus  openly  antago 
nize  the  candidate  he  otherwise  would  with 
a  secret  ballot,  "that  falls  as  silently  as 
snow-flakes  fall  upon  the  sod"  and  (should) 
execute  a  freeman's  will  as  lightning  doth 
the  will  of  God."  This  is  its  mission,  the 


86  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

faithful  execution  of  its  fiat,  the  palladium 
of  liberty  for  all  the  people.  Opposition  to 
the  exercise  of  this  right  in  a  representa 
tive  government  is  disintegrating  by  con 
tention  and  suicidal  in  success.  It  has 
been,  and  still  is,  the  cause  of  bitter  strug 
gle  in  our  own  country.  Disregard  of  the 
ultimatum  of  constitutional  majorities,  the 
foundation  of  our  system  of  government, 
as  the  cause  of  the  civil  war,  the  past  and 
ever-occurring  political  corruption  in  the 
Northern  and  the  chief  factor  in  the  race 
troubles  in  the  Southern  States,  where  the 
leaders  in  this  disregard  and  unlawful  ac 
tion  allow  the  honors  and  emoluments  of 
office  to  shut  out  from  their  view  the  con 
stitutional  rights  of  others;  and  by  the 
criminality  of  their  conduct  and  subter 
fuge  strive  to  make  selfish  might  honest 
right. 

That  slavery  was  a  poor  school  to  fit 
men  to  assume  the  obligations  and  duties 
of  an  enlightened  citizenship  should 
be  readily  admitted;  that  its  subjects  in 
the  Elysium  of  their  joy  and  thankfulness 
to  their  deliverers  from  servitude  to  free 
dom,  and  in  ignorance  of  the  polity  of  gov 
ernment,  should  have  been  easy  prey  to 
the  unscrupulous  is  within  reason.  Still 
the  impartial  historian  will  indite  that,  for 
all  that  dark  and  bloody  night  of  recon 
struction  through  which  they  passed,  the 
record  of  their  crime  and  peculation  will 
"pale  its  ineffectual  rays"  before  the  blis 
tering  blasts  of  official  corruption,  murder, 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  87 

and  lynching  that  has  appalled  Christen 
dom  since  the  government  of  these  South 
ern  States  has  been  assumed  by  their 
wealth  and  intelligence.  The  abnormal 
conditions  that  prevailed  during  recon 
struction  naturally  produced  hostility  to 
all  who  supported  Federal  authority, 
among  whom  the  Negro,  through  force  of 
circumstances,  was  prominent  and  most 
vulnerable  for  attack,  suffered  the  most 
physically,  and  subsequently  became  easy 
prey  for  those  who  would  profit  by  his  dis- 
franchisement. 

The  attempt  to  justify  this  and  condone 
this  refusal  to  allow  the  colored  American 
exercise  of  civil  and  constitutional  rights 
is  based  on  caste,  hatred,  and  alleged  ig 
norance — conditions  that  are  world-wide— 
and  the  measure  of  a  people's  Christianity 
and  the  efficiency  of  republican  institu 
tions  can  be  accurately  determined  by  the 
humanity  and  zeal  displayed  in  their  amel 
ioration,  not  in  the  denial  of  the  right,  but 
zealous  tuition  for  its  proper  exercise. 

During  the  civil  war  the  national  con 
science,  hitherto  sluggish,  was  awakened 
and  great  desire  prevailed  to  award  the 
race  the  full  meed  of  civil  and  political 
rights,  both  as  a  measure  of  justice  and  rec 
ognition  of  their  fealty  and  bravery  in  sup 
port  of  the  national  arm. 

The  Freedman's  Bureau,  Christian  and 
other  benevolent  agencies  were  inaug 
urated  to  fit  the  freedman  for  the  new  ob 
ligations.  Handicapped  as  he  has  been  in 


88  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

many  endeavors,  his  record  lias  been  in 
spiring.  Four-fifths  of  the  race  for  genera 
tions  legally  and  persistently  forbidden  to 
learn  to  read  or  write;  with  labor  unre 
quited,  a  conservative  estimate,  in  1898, 
little  more  than  three  decades  from  slav 
ery,  finds  340,000  of  their  children  attend 
ing  20,300  schools  and  their  property  val 
uation  |T50,000,000,  while  in  learned  pro 
fessions,  journalism,  and  mercantile  pur 
suits  their  ability  and  efficiency  command 
the  respect  and  praise  of  the  potential 
race. 

When  the  amendments  were  being  con 
sidered,  opinion  differed  as  to  the  be 
stowal  of  the  franchise;  many  favored  only 
those  who  could  read  and  write.  The  pop 
ularity  of  this  phase  of  opinion  was  voiced 
in  the  following  interview  with  Hon. 
Schuyler  Coif  ax,  afterward  Vice  Presi 
dent,  who  was  at  that  time  Speaker  of  the 
lower  house  of  Congress,  and  was  said  to 
have  the  "Presidential  bee  in  his  bonnet.'' 
While  "swinging  around  the  circle  he 
touched  at  Victoria,  and  the  British  Colo 
iiist  of  July  29,  1865,  made  the  following 
mention:  "A  committee  consisting  of  Ab- 
ner  Francis  and  M.  W.  Gibbs  called  on 
Hon.  ^Schuyler  Coif  ax,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  yesterday  morning.  On  being  in 
troduced  by  the  American  Consul,  Mr. 
Gibbs  proceeded  to  say  that  they  were 
happy  to  meet  him  and  tender  him  on  bo- 
bjilf  of  the  colored  residents  of  Vic 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  89- 

toria  their  esteem  and  regard.  They  were 
not  unacquainted  with  the  noble  course  he 
had  pursued  during  the  great  struggle  in 
behalf  of  human  liberty  in  the  land  of  their 
nativity.  They  had  watched  with  intense 
interest  the  progress  of  the  rebellion  and 
rejoiced  in  the  Federal  success  and  sor 
rowed  in  its  adversity.  Now  that  victory 
had  perched  on  the  national  standard — a 
standard  we  believe  henceforth  and  for 
ever  consecrated  to  impartial  liberty— 
they  were  filled  with  joy  unspeakable. 
And  he  would  allow  them  to  say  that  it  had 
afforded  them  the  greatest  pleasure  to  ob 
serve  the  alacrity  with  which  the  colored 
men  of  the  nation  offered  and  embraced 
the  opportunity  to  manifest  their  devotion 
and  bravery  in  support  of  the  national 
cause. 

They  had  full  confidence  in  the  magna 
nimity  of  the  American  people  that  in  the 
reconstruction  of  the  seceded  States  they 
would  grant  the  race  who  had  proved  their 
claim  by  the  most  indisputable  heroism 
and  fidelity,  equality  before  the  law,  upon 
the  ground  of  immutable  justice  and  im 
portance  of  national  safety.  Without  tres 
passing  further  on  his  valuable  time  they 
would  only  tender  him,  as  the  distin 
guished  Speaker  of  the  popular  house  of 
Congress,  as  well  as  the  sterling  friend  of 
freedom,  their  sincere  respect  and  esteem. 

Mr.  Colfax,  in  reply,  said  he  was  truly 
•glad  to  see  and  meet  the  committee  and 
fHt  honored  bv  the  interview. 


90  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

For  himself  he  had  ever  been  an  enemy 
of  slaver\\  From  his  earliest  recollections 
he  had  ever  used  his  influence  against  it 
to  the  extent  of  his  power;  but  its  abolition 
was  environed  by  so  many  difficulties  that 
it  seemed  to  require  the  overruling  hand 
of  God  to  consummate  its  destruction.  And 
he  did  not  see  how  it  could  have  been 
brought  about  so  speedily  but  for  those 
who  desired  to  perpetuate  it  by  raising  re 
bellious  hands  against  the  nation.  Now, 
with  regard  to  the  last  sentiment  ex 
pressed,  concerning  reconstruction,  he 
would  say  that  it  was  occupying  the  ear 
nest  attention  of  the  best  and  purest  minds 
of  the  nation.  Most  men  were  in  favor  of 
giving  the  ballot  to  colored  men;  the  ques 
tion  was  to  what  extent  it  should  be  grant 
ed.  Very  many  good  men  were  disposed 
to  grant  it  indiscriminately  to  the  ignorant 
as  well  as  the  more  intelligent.  For  him 
self  he  was  not,  but  among  the  other  class. 
If  colored  men  generally  were  as  intelli 
gent  as  the  gentleman  who  had  honored 
him  with  this  interview — for  he  considered 
the  speech  he  had  just  listened  to  among 
the  best  he  had  heard  on  the  coast — there 
would  be  no  trouble;  but  slavery  had  made 
that  impossible.  He  knew  that  the  Presi 
dent — decidedly  an  anti-slavery  man — was 
not  in  favor  of  bestowing  the  franchise  on 
all  alike,  while  Charles  Sumner  and  others 
favored  it. 

The    honorable    gentleman    closed     his 
remarks   by   desiring  the   colored   people 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  91 

iiot  to  consider  the  Administration  in 
imical  to  their  welfare,  if  in  the  adjust 
ment  the  right  of  suffrage  was  not  be 
stowed  on  all,  for  it  was  probable  that 
reading  and  writing  would  be  the  qualifi 
cation  demanded.  He  paid  a  high  tribute 
to  the  colored  people  of  Washington,  D.  C., 
for  their  intelligence,  moral  worth,  and  in 
dustry,  and  said  that  it  was  probable  that 
the  problem  of  suffrage  would  be  solved  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  After  a  desul 
tory  conversation  on  phases  of  national 
status  succeeding  the  rebellion,  both 
parties  seeming  well  pleased  with  the 
meeting,  the  committee  retired." 

I  did  not  then,  nor  do  I  now,  agree  with 
the  views  of  that  distinguished  statesman. 
The  benignity  of  the  ballot  lies  in  this:  It 
was  never  devised  for  the  protection  of  the 
strong,  but  as  a  guardian  for  the  weak.  It 
is  not  true  that  a  sane  man,  although  un 
lettered,  has  not  a  proper  conception  of  his 
own  interests  and  wrhat  will  conserve  them 
— wrhat  will  protect  them  and  give  the  best 
results  for  his  labor.  You  may  fool  him 
some  of  the  time,  as  you  do  the  most  as 
tute,  but  he  will  be  oftener  found  among 
those  of  whom  Lincoln  said  "You  could  not 
fool  all  the  time."  William  Lloyd  Garri 
son,  jr.,  "a  worthy  son  of  a  noble  sire," 
pointedly  says:  "Whoever  laments  the 
scope  of  suffrage  and  talks  of  disfranchis 
ing  men  on  account  of  ignorance  or  pov 
erty  has  as  little  comprehension  of  the 
meaning  of  self-government  as  a  blind 


1^  SHADOW  AM)  L H  ; I1T. 

man  lias  of  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  I 
declare  my  belief  that  we  are  suffering  not 
from  a  too  extended  ballot,  but  from  one 
too  limited  and  unrepresentative.  \V< 
enunciate  a  principle  of  government,  and 
then  deny  its  practice.  If  experience  has 
established  anything,  it  is  that  the  interest 
of  one  class  is  never  safe  in  the  hands  of 
another.  There  is  no  class  so  poor  or  ig 
norant  in  a  Republic  that  it  does  not  know 
its  own  suffering  and  needs  better  than  the 
wealthy  and  educated  classes.  By  the  rule 
of  justice  it  has  the  same  right  precisely  to 
give  them  legal  expression.  That  expres 
sion  is  bound  to  come,  and  it  is  wisest  for  it 
to  come  through  the  ballot  box  than 
through  mobs  and  violence  born  of  a  feel 
ing  of  misery  and  despair/7 

James  Russell  Lowell  has  said:  "The 
right  to  vote  makes  a  safety  valve  of  every 
voter,  and  the  best  way  to  teach  a  man 
to  vote  is  to  give  him  a  chance  to  practice. 
It  is  cheaper,  too,  in  the  long  run  to  lift 
men  up  than  to  hold  them  down.  The  bal 
lot  in  their  hands  is  less  dangerous  than  a 
sense  of  wrong  in  their  heads." 


iT» 


BISHOP  ALEXANDER  WALTERS. 

Born  in  Kentucky,  August    1858 — Educated  in  th^  Common  Schools  of  that  State 

—At  Thirty-five  Elected  Bishop  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church,  Taking 

High  Rank  as  a  Theologian,  Originator  and  First  President 

of  tho  Nati'i.ii'    \    •  >  A  MI  ri  •  •         >!incil     L  (linker. 

Orator  and  Leader. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTEK  IX. 

Among  the  estimable  friendships  I  made 
on  the  Pacific  Coast  forty  years  ago  was 
Philip  A.  Bell,  formerly  of  New  York  City, 
one  of  nature's  noblemen,  broad  in  his  hu 
manity  and  intellectually  great  as  a  jour 
nalist.  As  editor  of  The  Elevator,  a  weekly 
newspaper  still  published  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  he  made  its  pages  brilliant  with  scin 
tillations  of  elegance,  wealth  of  learning, 
and  vigor  of  advocacy.  To  his  request  for 
a  correspondent  I  responded  in  a  series  of 
letters.  I  forbear  to  insert  them  here,  as 
they  describe  the  material  and  political 
status  of  British  Columbia  thirty-five  years 
ago — being  well  aware  that  ancient  history 
is  not  the  most  entertaining.  But,  as  I 
read  them  I  cannot  but  note,  in  the  jollity 
of  their  introduction,  the  immature  criti 
cism,  consciousness  of  human  fallability, 
broadening  of  conclusions,  mellowed  by 
hope  for  the  future  that  seemed  typical  of 
a  life  career.  Like  the  horse  in  "Sheridan's 
Bide,"  their  beginning  "was  gay,  with 
Sheridan  fifty  miles  away;"  but  if  they 
were  helpful  with  a  truth-axiom  or  a 
moiety  of  inspiration — as  a  view  of  colonial 
conduct  of  a  nation,  with  which  we  were 


94  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

then  and  are  now  growing  in  affinity — the 
purpose  was  attained. 

At  first  the  affairs  of  British  Columbia 
and  Vancouver  were  administered  by  one 
Governor,  the  connection  was  but  nomi 
nal;  Vancouver  Island  had  control  by  a 
representative  Parliament  of  its  own;  the 
future  seemed  auspicious.  Later  they,  feel 
ing  it  "in  fra  dig"  to  divide  the  prestige 
of  government,  severed  the  connection. 
But  Vancouver  findirg  it  a  rather  expen 
sive  luxury,  and  that  the  separation  en 
gendered  strife  and  rivalry,  terminating  in 
hostile  legislation,  determined  to  perma 
nently  unite  with  British  Columbia. 

But  alas,  for  political  happiness.  Many 
afterward  sighed  for  former  times,  when 
Vancouver  Island,  proud  beauty  of  the 
North,  sat  laving  her  feet  in  the  genial 
waters  of  the  Pacific,  her  lap  verdant  with 
beautiful  foliage  and  delicious  fruits;  her 
head  raised  with  peerless  majesty  to  bril 
liant  skies,  while  sunbeams  playing  upon 
-a  brow  encircled  by  eternal  snows  reflected 
a  sheen  of  glorious  splendor;  when,  con 
scious  of  her  immense  wealth  in  coal,  min 
erals,  and  fisheries,  her  delightful  climate 
and  geographical  position,  she  bid  for  com 
mercial  supremacy.  It  is  said  of  States,  as 
of  women,  they  are  "fickle,  coy  and  hard 
to  please."  For,  changed  and  governed 
from  England's  Downing  Street,  "with  all 
its  red  tape  circumlocution,"  "Tile  Barn- 
cal,"  incapacity,  and  "how-not-to-do-it" 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  95 

ability  that  attached  to  that  venerable  in 
stitution,  its  people  were  sorely  perplexed. 
During  the  discussion  which  the  nature 
and  inefficiency  of  the  Government  evoked 
several  modes  of  relief  from  these  embar 
rassments  were  warmly  espoused,  among 
them  none  more  prominent  than  annexa 
tion  to  the  United  States.  It  was  urged 
with  much  force  that  the  great  want  of  the 
country,  immigration  and  responsible  gov 
ernment,  would  find  their  fulfillment  in 
such  an  alliance.  All  that  seemed  wanted 
was  the  "hour  and  the  man."  The  man 
was  considered  present  in  Leonard  JMc- 
Clure,  editor  of  a  local,  and  after 
ward  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  San 
Francisco  Times.  He  was  a  man  of  rare 
ability,  a  terse  writer,  and  with  force  of 
logic  labored  assiduously  to  promote  an 
nexation.  But  the  "hour"  was  "non  est." 
For  while  it  was  quite  popular  and  freely 
discussed  upon  the  forum  and  street,  in 
fluential  classes  declined  to  commit  them 
selves  to  the  scheme,  the  primary  step  nec 
essary  before  presentation  to  the  respec 
tive  Governments.  Among  the  opposition 
to  annexation,  naturally,  were  the  official 
class.  These  gentry  being  in  no  way  re 
sponsible  to  the  people,  an  element  ever  of 
influence,  and  believing  that  by  such  an 
alliance  they  would  find  their  "occupation 
gone,"  gave  it  no  quarter.  Added  to  these 
was  another  possessed  of  the  prestige  and 
power  that  wealth  confers — very  conserv 
ative,  timid,  cautious,  self-satisfied,  and 


96  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

dreading  innovations  of  popular  rule,  but 
especially  republicanism.  Amid  these  two 
classes,  and  sprinkled  among  the  rank  and 
file,  was  found  a  sentiment  extremely  pa 
triotic,  with  those  who  saw  nothing  worth 
living  for  outside  of  the  purview  of  the 
"tight  little  island." 

There  seems  a  destiny  in  the  pro 
priety  of  territory  changing  dominion. 
God  seems  to  have  given  this  beautiful 
earth,  with  its  lands,  to  be  utilized 
and  a  source  of  blessing,  not  to  be 
locked  by  the  promptings  of  avarice  nor 
the  clog  of  incapacity;  that  it  should  be 
occupied  by  those  who,  either  by  the  acci 
dent  of  locality  or  superior  ability,  can 
make  it  the  most  efficient  in  development. 
There  should  be,  and  usually  is,  regard  for 
acquired  rights,  save  in  the  case  of  Afri 
cans,  Indians,  or  other  weak  peoples,  when 
cupidity  and  power  hold  sweet  converse. 
Nor  should  we  slightly  estimate  the  feel 
ing  of  loyalty  to  the  land  of  birth  and  the 
hearths  of  our  fathers,  the  impulse  that 
nerves  the  arm  to  strike,  and  the  soul  to 
dare;  that  brings  to  our  country's  altar  all 
that  Ave  have  of  life  to  repel  the  invader  of 
our  homes  or  the  usurper  of  our  liberties. 
That  has  given  to  the  w^orld  a  Washing 
ton,  a  Toussant,  a  Bozzaris — a  loyalty  that 
will  ever  stand  with  cloven  helmet  and 
crimson  battle-ax  in  the  van  of  civilization 
and  progress.  But,  like  other  ennobling 
sentiments,  it  can  be  perverted,  allowing 
it  to  permeate  every  view  of  government, 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  97 

finding1  its  ultimatum  in  the  conclusion 
that,  if  government  is  despotic  or  ineffi 
cient,  it  is  to  be  endured  and  not  removed. 
Such  patriots  are  impressed  with  the  con 
viction  that  the  people  were  made  for  gov- 
e'rnments,  and  not  governments  for  the 
people.  A  celebrated  poet  has  said— 

"Our  country's  claim  is  fealty, 

I  grant  you  so;  but  then 
Before  man  made  us  citizens 
Great  Nature  made  us  men." 

;( 

Men  with  essential  wonts  and  laudable 
aspirations,  the  attainment  of  which  can 
be  accelerated  by  the  fostering  love  and  en 
lightened  zeal  of  a  progressive  govern 
ment. 

In  1859  at  Esquimault,  the  naval  station 
for  British  Columbia,  I  had  a  pleasant 
meeting  with  Lady  Franklin,  widow  of 
Sir  John  Franklin,  the  Arctic  explorer, 
who  sailed  in  1845  and  was  supposed  to 
have  perished  in  1847.  With  a  woman's 
devotion,  after  many  years  of  absence,  she 
was  still  in  quest,  hoping,  from  ship  officer 
or  seaman  of  her  Majesty's  service,  some 
ray  of  light  would  yet  penetrate  the  gloom 
which  surrounded  his  "taking  off"  in  that 
terra  incognito  of  the  North  pole,  whose 
attraction  for  the  adventurer  in  search  of 
scientific  and  geographical  data  in  the 
mental  world  is  akin  to  its  magnetic  at 
traction  in  the  physical.  To  her  no  tidings 

(7) 


98  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

came,  but  still  lingered  "hope,  the  balm 
and  life-blood  of  the  soul." 

In  1868  the  union  of  British  Columbia 
with  the  Dominion  of  Canada  was. the  po 
litical  issue,  absorbing  all  others.  But  the 
allurements  of  its  grandeur  and  the  mag 
nitude  of  promised  results  were  insufficient, 
to  allav  opposition,  ever  encountered  on 
proposal  to  change  a  constitutional  polity 
by  those  at  the  time  enjoying  official  hon 
ors  or  those  Ay  ho  benefit  through  contracts 
or  trade,  and  are  emphatic  in  their  protest; 
these,  however,  constitute  an  element  that 
is  unwittingly  the  safety  valve  of  const! 
tutional  government.  Wherever  the  peo 
ple  rule  the  public  welfare  is  ever  endan 
gered  whenever  radical  changes  are  to  be 
introduced,  unaccompanied  with  a  vig 
orous  opposition.  A  healthy  opposition  is 
the  winnowing  fan  that  separates  the  poli 
tician's  chaff  from  the  patriot's  wheat,  pre 
senting  the  most  desirable  of  the  substan 
tial  element  needed.  At  the  convention  in 
l$f>8  at  Fort  Yale,  called  by  A.  Deco.smos, 
editor  of  The  British  Colonist,  and  others, 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  an  expression  of 
the  people  of  British  Columbia  regarding 
union  with  the  Dominion  of  Canada  (and 
of  which  the  writer  was  a  delegate),  the  re 
duction  of  liabilities,  the  lessening  of  taxa 
tion,*  increase  of  revenue,  restriction  of  ex 
penditure,  and  the  enlargement  of  the  peo 
ple's  liberties  were  the  goal,  all  of  which 
have  been  attained  since  entrance  to  the 
Dominion,  which  has  become  a  bright 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  99 

jewel  in  his  Majesty's  Crown,  reflecting  a 
civilization,  liberal  and  progressive,  of  a 
loyal,  happy  people. 

The  "British  American  Act,'7  which  cre 
ated  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  differs 
from  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  in  important  particulars.  It 
grants  to  the  Dominional,  a>s  well  as 
the  provincial  Legislatures  the  "want  of 
confidence  principle,"  by  which  an  objec 
tionable  ministry  can  be  immediately  re 
moved;  at  the  same  time  centralizing  the 
national  authority  as  a  guard  against  the 
heresy  of  "State  rights"  superiority. 
Among  the  terms  stipulated,  the  Dominion 
was  to  assume  the  colonial  debt  of  British 
Columbia,  amounting  to  over  two  million 
dollars;  the  building  of  a  road  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  within  a  stipulated 
time.  The  alliance,  however,  contained 
more  advantage  than  the  ephemeral  assist 
ance  of  making  a  road  or  the  assumption 
of  a  debt,  for  with  confederation  came  the 
abolition  of  the  "one-man  system  of  gov 
ernment"  and  in  its  place  a  responsible 
one,  with  freedom  of  action  for  enterprise, 
legislation  to  encourage  development,  and 
assist  budding  industries;  the  permanent 
establishment  of  schools,  and  the  disburse 
ment  of  revenue  in  accordance  with  popu 
lar  will. 

It  is  ever  and  ever  true  that  "right  is  of 
no  sex,  and  truth  of  no  color."  The  lib 
eral  ideas,  ever  struggling  for  utterance 
-and  ascendancy  under  every  form  of  gov- 


!100  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

••'eminent,  are  not  the  exclusive  property  of 
any  community  or  nation,  but  the  heritage 
of  mankind,  and  their  victories  are  ever  in 
spiring.  For,  as  the  traveler  sometimes 
ascends  the  hill  to  determine  his  bearings, 
refresh  his  vision,  and  invigorate  himself 
for  greater  endeavors,  so  we,  by  sometimes 
looking  beyond  the  sphere  of  our  own  lo 
cal  activities,  obtain  higher  views  of  the* 
breadth  and  magnitude  of  the  principles 
we  cherish,  and  perceive  that  freedom's 
battle  is  identical  wherever  waged, 
whether  her  sons  fight  to  abolish  the  relics 
of  feudalism  or  to  possess  the  ballot,  the 
reflex  influence  of  their  example  is  mu 
tually  beneficial. 

But  of  the  Dominion-  of  Canada,  who 
shall  write  its  "rise,  decline,  and  fall?" 
Springing  into  existence  in  a  day,  with  a 
population  of  4,000,000  people — a  number 
larger  than  that  possessed  by  the  United 
States  when  they  commenced  their  great 
career — its  promise  is  pregnant  with  be 
nign  probabilities.  May  it  be  the  fruition 
of  hope  that  the  banner  of  the  Dominion 
and  the  flag  of  our  Republic,  locked  and 
interlocked,  may  go  forward  in  generous 
rivalry  to  bless  mankind. 

The  most  rapid  instrumentalities  in 
the  development  of  a  new  country 
are  the  finding  and  prospecting  for 
mineral  deposits.  The  discovery  of  large 
deposits  of  gold  in  the  quartz  and 
alluvial  area  of  British  Columbia  in  1858 
was  the  incipiency  of  the  growth  and  pros- 


SHADOW  AM)  LI  OUT.  101 

perity  it  now  enjoys.  But  although  the 
search  for  the  precious  is  alluring,  the  min 
ing  of  the  grosser  metals  and  minerals, 
such  as  iron,  lead,  coal,  and  others,  are 
much  more  reliable  for  substantial  re 
sults. 

The  only  mine  of  importance  in  British 
Columbia  previous  to  1867  was  at  Naniamo, 
where  there  was  a  large  output  of  bitumi 
nous  coal.  *  In  that  year  anthracite  was 
discovered  by  Indians  building  fire  on  a 
broken  vein  that  ran  from  Mt.  Seymour,  on 
Queen  Charlotte  Island,  in  the  North  Pa 
cific.  It  was  a  high  grade  of  coal,  and  on 
a.ccount  of  its  density  and  burning  without 
flame,  was  the  most  valuable  for  smelting 
and  domestic  purposes.  A  company  had 
been  formed  at  Victoria  which  had  spent 
$60,000  prospecting  for  an  enduring  and 
paying  vein,  and  thereafter  prepared  for 
development  by  advertising  for  tenders  to 
build  railroad  and  wharfs  for  shipping. 
Being  a  large  shareholder  in  the  company, 
I  resigned  as  a  director  and  bid.  It  was 
not  the  lowest,  but  I  was  awarded  the  con 
tract.  The  Hudson  Bay  Co.  steamship  Ot 
ter,  having  been  chartered  January,  1869, 
with  fifty  men,  comprising  surveyor,  car 
penters,  blacksmiths,  and  laborers,  with 
timber,  rails,  provisions,  and  other  neces 
saries  for  the  work  I  embarked  at  Victoria. 
Queen  Charlotte  Island  was  at  that  tiine 
almost  a  "terra  incognito,"  sparsely  inhab 
ited  -solely  by  scattered -tribes  of  Indians 
on  the  coast  lines,  which  were  only  o'cca- 


102  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

sioually  visited  by  her  Majesty's  ships  for 
discovery  and  capture  of  small  craft  en 
gaged  in  the  whisky  trade. 

Passing  through  the  Straits  of  Georgia^ 
stopping  at  Fort  Simpson,  and  then 
to  Queen  Charlotte  Island,  entering 
the  mouth  of  Skidegate  River,  a  few 
miles  up,  we  reached  the  company's 
quarters,  consisting  of  several  wooden 
buildings  for  residence,  stores,  shopsr 
etc.  At  the  mouth  and  along  the  river 
were  several  Indian  settlements,  com 
prising  huts,  the  sides  of  which  were  of 
rough  riven  planks,  with  roof  of  leaves  of  a 
tough,  fibrous  nature.  At  the  crest  was  an 
opening  for  the  escape  of  smoke  from  fires 
built  on  the  ground  in  the  center  of  the 
enclosure.  As  the  ship  passed  slowly  up 
the  river  we  were  hailed  by  the  shouting 
of  the  Indians,  who  ran  to  the  river  side, 
got  into  their  canoes  and  followed  in  great 
numbers  until  we  anchored.  They  then 
swarmed  around  and  over  the  ship,  salut 
ing  the  ship's  company  as  "King  ^George's 
men,"  for  such  the  English  are  known  and 
called  by  them.  They  were  peaceful  and 
docile,  lending  ready  hands  to  our  landing 
and  afterward  to  the  cargo.  I  was  sur 
prised,  while  standing  on  the  ship,  to  hear 
my  name  called  by  an  Indian  in  a  canoe  at 
the  side,  coupled  with  encomiums  of  the 
native  variety,  quite  flattering.  It  proved 
to  be  one  who  had  been  a  domestic  in  my 
family  at  Victoria.  He  gave  me  kind  wel 
come,  not  to  be  ignored,  remembering  that 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  103 

1  was  in  "the  enemy's  country/'  so  to 
speak.  Besides,  such  a  reception  was  so 
much  the  more  desirable,  as  I  was  depend 
ent  upon  native  labor  for  excavating  and 
transportation  of  heavy  material  along  the 
line  of  the  road.  While  their  work  was 
not  despatched  with  celerity  of  trained  la- 
bor,  still,  as  is  general  with  labor,  they 
earned  all  they  got.  "One  touch  of  nature 
makes  the  whole  world  kin."  I  found  many 
apt,  some  stupid;  honesty  and  dishonesty 
in  usual  quantities,  with  craft  peculiar  to 
savage  life. 

Their  mode  of  stealing  by  stages  was 
peculiar.  The  thing  coveted  was  first 
hid  nearby;  if  no  inquiry  was  made 
for  a  period  deemed  sufficiently  long  the 
change  of  ownership  became  complete  and 
its  removal  to  their  own  hut  followed, 
to  be  disposed  of  when  opportunity  of 
fered.  If  you  had  a  particle  of  evidence 
and  made  a  positive  accusation,  with  the 
threat  of  "King  George's  man-of-war,"  it 
was  likely  to  be  forthcoming  by  being 
placed  secretly  nearby  its  proper  place. 
But  through  it  we  see  the  oneness  of  hu 
man  frailty,  whether  in  the  watered  stock 
of  the  corporation  or  that  of  its  humble 
servitor  the  milkman,  there  is  kinship.  To 
get  something  for  nothing  is  the  "ignis 
fatuus"  ever  in  the  lead.  My  experience 
during  a  year's  stay  on  the  island,  and 
constant  intercourse  with  the  natives,  im 
pressed  me  more  and  more  with  the  con 
viction  that  we  are  all  mainlv  the  crea- 


104:  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

tures  of  environments;  yet  through  all  the 
strata  and  fiber  of  human  nature  there  is 
a  chord  that  beats  responsive  to  kindness 
—a  "language  that  the  dumb  can  speak, 
and  that  the  deaf  can  understand." 

The  English  mode  of  dealing  with  semi- 
civilized  dependents  is  vastly  different  from 
ours.  While  vigorously  administering  the 
law  for  proper,  government,  protection  of 
life,  and  suppression  of  debauchery  by  un 
scrupulous  traders,  they  inspired  respect 
for  the  laws  and  the  love  of  their  patrons. 
Uprisings  and  massacres  among  Indians  in 
her  Majesty's  dominions  are  seldom,  if 
ever,  to  be  chronicled.  Many  of  our  Indian 
wars  will  remain  a  blot  on  the  page  of  im 
partial  history,  superinduced,  as  they  were, 
by  wanton  murder  or  the  covet  of  lands 
held  by  them  by  sacred  treaties,  which 
should  have  been  as  sacredly  inviolate.  Fol 
lowed  by  decimation  of  tribes  by  toleration 
of  the  whisky  trade  and  the  conveyance  of 
loathsome  disease.  The  climate  of  the  island 
was  much  more  pleasant  than  expected. 
The  warm  ocean  currents  on  the  Pacific 
temper  the  atmosphere,  rendering  it  more 
genial  than  the  same  degree  of  latitude  on 
the  Atlantic.  A  few  inches  of  snow,  a  thin 
coat  of  ice  on  the  river,  were  the  usual 
attendants  of  winter.  But  more  frequently 
our  camp  was  overhung  by •-.  heavy  clouds, 
broken  by  Mt. 'Seymour,  precipitating  much 
rain. 

-* After    being    domiciled    we    proceeded 
with  the  resident  superintendent  to  view 


HON.   HENKY  P.   CHEATHAM, 

Lato  K(  0-  "rlcr  of  Deeds  for  the  District  of  Columbia. 

•x'orili  I  .sty  <>;;d   Years  Aim      F.du«:ated  in   Public  Sell   n>   and 

,-i\v  l'ni\«  llejris  er  (.f  1  .     "     t<  ('o  n  ted   Lo  ;h« 

PMft-iii-  l-'ifty-st  eop.i    <'      ^  le   air7    ^  .v^ressive. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  105 

the  .-company's  property,  comprising  sev 
eral  thousand  acres.  Rising  in  altitude, 
and  on  different  levels,  as  we  approached 
Mt.  Seymour,  croppings  of  coal  were  quite 
frequent,  the  broken  and  scattered  veins 
evidencing  volcanic  disturbance.  The  vein 
most  promising  was  several  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  our  intended 
wharf  survey  was  made,  which  showed 
heavy  cuttings  and  blasting  to  obtain 
grade  for  the  road.  The  work  was  pushed 
with  all  the  vigor  the  isolated  locality  and 
climatic  conditions  allowed.  Rain  almost 
incessant  was  a  great  impediment,  as  well 
as  were  the  occasional  strikes  of  the  In 
dian  labor,  which  was  never  for  more 
wages,  but  for  more  time.  The  coal  from 
the  croppiugs  which  had  been  at  first  ob 
tained  for  testing,  had  been  carried  by 
them  in  bags,  giving  them  in  the  "coin  of 
the  realm"  so  mariy  pieces  of  tobacco  for 
each  bag  delivered  on  the  ship.  There  was 
plenty  of  time  lying  around  on  those  trips, 
and  they  took  it.  On  the  advent  of  the 
new  era  they  complained  that  "King- 
George  men"  took  all  the  time  and  gave 
them  none,  so  they  frequently  quit  to  go 
in  quest.  The  nativity  of  my  skilled  labor 
was  a  piece  of  national  patchwork — a  com 
posite  of  the  canny  Scotch,  the  persistent 
and  witty  Irish,  the  conservative  but  in-, 
domitable  English,  the  effervescent 
French,  the  plegmati-c  German,  and  the 
irascible  Italian.  I  found  this  variety  ben 
eficial,  for  the  usual  national  and  race  bras 


106  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

was  sufficiently  in  evidence  to  preclude  a 
combination  to  retard  the  work.  I  had 
three  Americans,  that  were  neither  white 
nor  colored;  they  were  born  black;  one  of 
them — Tambry,  the  cook — will  ever  have 
my  grateful  remembrance  for  his  fatherly 
kindness  and  attention  during  an  illness. 

The  conditions  there  were  such  that 
threw  many  of  my  men  off  their  feet. 
Women  and  liquor  had  much  the  "right  of 
way."  I  was  more  than  ever  impressed 
with  the  belief  that  there  was  nothing  so 
conclusive  to  a  worthy  manhood  as  self- 
restraint,  both  morally  and  physically,  and 
the  more  vicious  and  unrestraining  the  en 
vironment  the  greater  the  achievement. 
Miners  had  been  at  wrork  placing  many 
tons  of  coal  at  the  mouth  of  the  mine  dur 
ing  the  making  of  the  road,  the  grade  of 
which  was  of  two  elevations,  one  from  the 
mine  a  third  of  the  distance,  terminating 
ai  a  chute,  from  which  the  coal  fell  to  cars 
on  the  lower  level,  and  from  thence  to  the 
wharf.  After  the  completion  of  the  road 
and  its  acceptance  by  the  superintendent 
and  the  storage  of  a  cargo  of  coal  on  the 
wharf,  the  steamer  Otter  arrived,  was 
loaded,  and  despatched  to  San  Francisco, 
being  the  first  cargo  of  anthracite  coal  ever 
unearthed  on  the  Pacific  seaboard.  The 
superintendent,  having  notified  the  direc 
tors  at  Victoria  of  his  intention  to  return, 
they  had  appointed  me  to  assume  the  of 
fice.  I  was  so  engaged,  preparing  for  the 
next  shipment  on  the  steamer. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  107 


CHAPTER  X. 

My  sojourn  on  the  island  was  not  with 
out  its  vicissitudes  and  dangers,  and  one 
of  the  latter  I  shall  ever  remember — one 
mingled,  as  it  was,  with  antics  of  Neptune, 
that  capricious  god  of  the  ocean,  and  res 
ignation  to  what  seemed  to  promise  my 
end  with  all  sublime  things.  The  stock 
of  oil  brought  for  lubricating  cars  and  ma 
chinery  having  been  exhausted,  I  started  a 
beautiful  morning  in  a  canoe  with  three 
Indians  for  their  settlement  at  the  mouth  of 
Skidegate  River  for  a  temporary  supply. 
After  a  few  hours'  paddling,  gliding  down 
the  river  serenely,  the  wind  suddenly 
arose,  increasing  in  force  as  we  ap 
proached  the  mouth  in  the  gulf.  The  high 
walls  of  the  river  sides  afforded  no  oppor 
tunity  to  land.  The  storm  continued  to  in 
crease  in  violence,  bringing  billows  of 
rough  sea  from  the  ocean,  our  canoe  dan 
cing  like  a  feather,  one  moment  on  a  high 
crest  by  its  skyward  leap,  and  in  the  next 
to  an  abyss  deep,  with  walls  of  sea  on 
either  side,  shutting  out  a  view  of  the  hori 
zon,  while  I,  breathless  with  anxious  hope, 
waited  for  the  succeeding  wave  to  again 
lift  the  frail  bark.  The  better  to  preserve 


108  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

the  equilibrium  of  the  canoe — a  convey 
ance  treacherous  at  the  best — wrapped  in 
a  blanket  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe  I  laid, 
looking  into  the  faces  of  the  Indians,  con 
torted  by  fright,  and  listened  to  their  pe 
culiar  and  mournful  death  wail,  "while  the 
gale  whistled  aloft  his  tempest  tune.  " 

I  afterward  learned  that  they  had  a  su 
perstition  based  upon  the  loss  of  many  of 
their  tribe  under  like  conditions,  that  es 
cape  was  impossible.  The  alarm  and  dis 
trust  in  men,  aquatic  from  birth,  in  their 
own  waters  was  to  me  appalling.  I  seemed 
to  have  "looked  death  in  the  face" — and 
what  a  rush  of  recollections  that  had  been 
long  forgotten,  of  actions  good  and  bad, 
the  latter  seeming  the  most,  hurried,  ser 
ried,  but  distinct  through  my  excited  brain; 
then  a  thought,  bringing  a  calm  content, 
that  "To  every  man  upon  this  earth  death 
Cometh  soon  or  late;"  and  with  a  fervent 
resignation  of  myself  to  God  and  to  what  I 
believed  to  be  inevitable;  then  a  lull  in  the 
wind,  and,  after  many  attempts,  we  were 
able  to  cross  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  the 
other  sideTTthe  place  of  destination. 

In  1869  I  left  Queen  Charlotte  Island 
and  returned  to  Victoria ;  settled  my  busi 
ness  preparatory  to  joining  my  family,  then 
at  Oberlin,  Ohio.  «  It  was1  not  without  a 
measure  of  regret  that  I  anticipated  my 
departure.  There  I  had  lived  more  than  a 
decade;  where  the  geniality  of  the  climate 
was  excelled  only  by  the  graciousness  of 
the  people;  there  unreservedly  the  f  rater- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


nal  grasp  of  brotherhood;  there  I  had  re 
ceived  social  and  political  recognition; 
there  my  domestic  ties  had  been  intensified 
by  the  birth  of  my  children,  a  warp  and 
woof  of  consciousness  that  time  cannot 
obliterate.  Then  regret  modified,  as  love 
of  home  and  country  asserted  itself. 

"Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said  : 

'This  is  my  native  lan<T~ 
Whose  heart  has  not  within  him  burned 
As  homeward  footsteps  he  has  turned 
From  wandering  on  a  foreign  strand?"' 

En  route  my  feelings  were  peculiar..  A 
decade  had  pasesd,  fraught  with  momen 
tous  results  in  the  history  of  the  nation-. 
I  had  left  California  disfranchised  and  my 
oath  denied  in  a  "court  of  justice"  (?);  left 
my  country  to  all  appearances  enveloped 
in  a  moral  gloom  so  dense  as  to  shut  out 
the  light  of  promise  for  a  better  civil  and 
political  status.  The  star  of  hope  glim 
mered  but  feebly  above  the  horizon  of  con- 
tumely  and  oppression,  prophetic  of  the 
destruction  of  slavery  and  the  enfranchise 
ment  of  the  freedman.  I  was  returning, 
and  on  touch  of  my  country's  soil  to  have 
a  new  baptism  through  the  all-pervading 
genius  of  universal  liberty.  I  had  left  -po 
litically  ignoble;  I  was  returning  pano 
plied  with  the  nobility  of  an  American  citi 
zen.  Hitherto  regarded  as  a  pariah,  I  had 
neither  rejoiced  at  its  achievement  nor  sor- 


110  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

rowed  for  its  adversity;  now  every  patri 
otic  pulse  beat  quicker  and  heart  throb 
warmer,  on  realization  that  my  country 
gave  constitutional  guarantee  for  the  com 
mon  enjoyment  of  political  and  civil  lib 
erty,  equality  before  the  law — inspiring  a 
dignity  of  manhood,  of  self-reliance  and  op 
portunity  for  elevation  hitherto  unknown. 

Then  doubt,  alternating,  would  present 
the  immense  problems  awaiting  popular 
solution.  Born  in  the  seething  cauldron  of 
dvil  war,  they  had  been  met  in  the  arena 
of  fervid  Congressional  debate  and  polit 
ical  conflict.  The  amendments  to  the  Con 
stitution  had  been  passed,  but  was  their  in 
scription  a  record  of  the  crystallization  of 
public  sentiment?  Subsequent  events 
have  fully  shown  that  only  to  the  mag 
nanimity  and  justice  of  the  American  peo 
ple  and  the  fruition  of  time  can  they  be 
commended.  Not  to  believe  that  these 
problems  will  be  rightfully  solved  is  to 
doubt  not  only  the  efficacy  of  the  basic 
principles  of  our  Government,  but  the  di 
vinity  of  truth  and  justice.  To  these  rounds 
of  hope's  ladder,  while  eager  in  obtaining 
wisdom,  the  Negro  should  cling  with  te 
nacity,  with  faith  "a  higher  faculty  than 
reason"  unconquerable. 

Having  resolved  to  locate  in  some  part 
of  the  South  for  the  purpose  of  practicing 
law,  I  had  while  in  Victoria  read  the  Eng 
lish  Common  Law,  the  basis  of  our  coun 
try's  jurisprudence,  under  Mr.  Ring,  an 
English  barrister.  Soon  after  my  arrival 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  Ill 

in  Oberliii,  Ohio,  where  my  family,  four 
years  before,  had  preceded  me,  I  entered 
the  law  department  of  an  Oberlin  business 
college,  and  after  graduation  proceeded 
South,  the  first  time  since  emancipation. 
In  an  early  chapter  I  described  my  first 
contact  with  and  impressions  of  slavery, 
when  a  lad;  then  the  hopelessness  of  ab 
ject  servitude  and  consciousness  of  unre 
quited  toil  had  its  impress  on  the  brow  of 
the  laborer.  Now  cheerfulness,  a  spirit  of 
industry,  enterprise,  and  fraternal  feeling 
replaced  the  stagnant  humdrum  of  slavery. 
Nor  was  progress  observable  only  among 
the  freednieu.  Many  evidences  of  kindness 
and  sympathy  were  shown  and  expressed 
by  former  owners  for  the  moral  and  mental 
advancement  of  their  former  bondsmen, 
which,  to  a  great  degree,  unfortunately, 
was  counterbalanced  by  violence  and  per 
secution. 

My  brother,  Jonathan  C.Gibbs,  was  then 
Secretary  of  State  of  Florida,  with  Gov 
ernor  Hart  as  executive.  He  had  had  the 
benefit  of  a  collegiate  education,  having 
graduated  at  Dartmouth,  New  Haven,  and 
had  for  some  years  filled  the  pulpit  as  a 
Presbyterian  minister.  The  stress  of  re 
construction  and  obvious  necessity  for 
ability  in  secular  matters  induced  him  to 
enter  official  life.  Naturally  indomitable, 
he  more  than  fulfilled  the  expectations  of 
his  friends  and  supporters  by  rare  ability 
as  a  thinker  and  speaker,  with  unflinching 
fidelity  to  his  party  principles.  I  found 


112  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

Mm  at  Tallahassee,  the  capital,  in  a  well- 
appointed  residence,  but  his  sleeping  place 
in  the  attic  contracted,  and,  as  I  perceived, 
considerable  of  an  arsenal.  He  said  that 
for  better  vantage  it  had  been  his  resting 
place  for  several  months,  as  his  life  had 
been  threatened  by  the  "Ku  Klux,"  that 
band  of  midnight  assassins  whose  deeds  of 
blood  and  carnage  darken  so  many  pages 
of  our  national  history,  and  was  the  con 
stant  terror  of  white  and  black  adherents 
to  the  national  Government's  policy  of  en 
franchisement.  He  was  hopeful  of  better 
conditions  in  Florida,  and  introduced  me 
to  Governor  Hart.  Both  urged  me  to  lo 
cate  in  the  State,  promising  me  their  sup 
port.  I  highly  appreciated  the  affection 
of  the  one  and  the  proffered  friendship  of 
the  other.  But  the  feeling  paramount 
was  that  my  brother  had  "won  his  spurs" 
by  assiduity  and  fidelity  through  the  scath 
ing  and  fiery  ordeal  of  those  troublesome 
times;  that  it  would  ill  become  me  to  profit 
or  serenely  rest  beneath  the  laurels  he  had 
won.  It  was  the  last  interview  or  sight 
of  my  brother.  Subsequently  after  a  three 
hours'  speech,  he  went  to  his  office  and 
suddenly  died  of  apoplexy. 

I  continued  my  tour  of  observation,  and, 
haAdng  been  appointed  a  delegate  from 
Ohio  to  a  national  convention  to  be  held 
in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  I  attended. 
It  was  the  first  assembly  of  the  kind  at 
which  I  had  been  present  since  emancipa 
tion.  I  had  hitherto  met  rnanv  converi- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  113 

tioiis  of  colored  men  having  for  their  ob 
ject  the  amelioration  of  oppressive  condi 
tions.  This  gathering  was  unlike  any  sim 
ilar  meeting.  The  deliberations  of  the  con 
vention  presented  a  combination  of  a 
strong  intellectual  grasp  of  present  needs 
and  their  solution,  with  much  uninformed 
groping  and  strife  for  prominence,  features 
of  procedure  I  have  observed  not  confined 
to  Negro  assemblies. 

The  majority  were  unlettered,  but  ear 
nest  in  their  mental  toiling  for  protection 
to  life  and  equality  before  the  law.  Hith 
erto  the  purpose  had  been  to  make  earnest 
appeals  tp  the  law-making  power  for  such 
legislation  as  would  abolish  slavery  and 
award  equal  justice — the  first  supported 
by  the  national  conscience,  but  mainly  as  a 
military  necessity,  was  a  "fait  accompli;" 
the  other  had  been  legislatively  awarded, 
but  for  its  realization  much  more  was  nec 
essary  than  its  simple  indentification  on 
the  statute  books  of  a  nation,  when  public 
sentiment  is  law.  More  than  a  third  of  a 
century  has  now  passed,  enabling  a  view 
more  dispassionate  and  accurate  of  the 
conditions  surrounding  the  freedmen  di 
rectly  after  emancipation  and  the  instru 
mentalities  designed  for  fitting  him  for  cit 
izenship. 

It  is  not  surprising,  neither  is  he  blame 
worthy,  if  in  the  incipiency  of  joy  for  free 
dom  bestowed  he  could  not  properly  esti 
mate  the  factors  necessary  to  form  an 
homogenous  citizenship.  The  ways  for  two 

(8) 


114  SHADOW  AND  LHJHT. 

centuries  had  been  divergent  paths.  The 
dominant  claiming  and  exercising,  as  an 
heirloom,  every  civil  and  political  right; 
ttoe  subordinate,  with  knowledge  tin*  most 
meaner  of  their  application  or  limits,  by 
cornpiilsion  \vas  made  to  concede  the  claim. 
Neither  is  it  singular  that  participation  in 
the  exercise  of  these  rights  by  the  freed 
man  should  have  created  a  determined  op 
position  in  a  majority  of  the  former,  who 
claimed  their  fitness  to  rule  as  the  embodi 
ment  of  the  wealth  and  intelligence  (which 
are  generally  the  ruling  factors  world 
wide),  arid  would  have  at  an  early  date  de 
rived  a  just  "power  from  the  consent  of 
the  governed,"  did  not  history  record  the 
unnecessary  and  inhuman  means  resorted 
to  to  extort  it,  the  obliquity  of  which  can 
be  erased  only  by  according  him  the  rights 
of  an  American  citizen.  .Mutual  hostility. 
opposition  on  the  one  hand  to  the  assump 
tion  and  exercise  of  these  rights,  and  con 
sequent  distrust  by  the  freedman,  often 
fostered  by  unscrupulous  leaders,  have 
been  alike  detrimental  to  both  classes,  but 
especially  so  to  the  Negro,  for  his  constant 
need  in  the  Southland  is  the  cordial  friend 
ship  and  helping  hand  of  "his  brother  in 
white."  He  deserves  it  for  his  century  of 
unrequited  labor  in  peace  and  in  war  for 
fidelity  to  the  tender  ties  committed  to 
his  care.  Anti-revolutionist  in  his  nature, 
he  will  continue  to  merit  it  and  possibly 
save  the  industrial  life  in  the  South  in 
the  coming  conflict  of  capital  and  labor. 


S 1 1 A  DOAV  AND  LIGHT.  1  1  5 

That,  as  a  class,  they  are  in  antagonism 
to  the  prevailing  political  sentiment  is  the 
legitimate  result  of  the  manner  of  their 
emancipation  and  a  commendable  grati 
tude  and  kinship  for  the  party  through 
which  they  obtained  their  freedom.  But 
Gibbon,  in  his  "Decline  and  Fall  of  Rome/' 
lias  said  thai  "'gratitude  is  expensive,"  and 
so  the  Negro  lias  found  it,  and  is  beginning 
to  echo  the  sentiment  and  would  gladly 
hail  conditions  and  opportunity  where  he 
could,  after  thirty-five  years  of  blood  and 
fidelity,  be  less  partisan  and  more  frater 
nal  politically,  conscious  his  united  affilia 
tion  with  his  early  alliance,  and  conse 
quent  ostracism  of  the  opposition  has 
given  him  a  "hard  road  to  travel."  Com 
mendable  as  has  been  his  devotion,  he  finds 
commendation  a  limited  currency  and  not 
negotiable  for  the  protection  and  benefits 
that  should  accompany  the  paladium  of 
citizenship.  While  his  treatment  by  the 
Democratic  party  has  made  a  continuous 
political  relation  compulsory,  it  is  unfor 
tunate;  for  the  political  affinity  of  no  other 
class  of  American  citizens  is  judged  by  the 
accident  of  birth.  It  is  detrimental  to  the 
voter  whose  proclivity  is  thereby  deter 
mined.  Wherever  the  Negro  vote,  in  the 
estimation  of  any  party,  is  an  uncertain 
quantity,  its  value  as  a  factor  will  have  in 
creased,  consolidated,  and  in  numbers  con 
trolling,  it  has  been  considered  a  menace 
and  vigorously  eliminated. 


116  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

This  view  has  to  an  extent  an  auxiliary 
in  certain  Kepublican  circles,  where  it  is 
avowed  that  the  party  could  get  in  the 
South  a  large  accession  of  hitherto  Demo 
cratic  voters,  giving  it  a  commanding  in 
fluence,  but  for  its  colored  contingent, 
which  is  averred  to  be  repellant.  There 
may  be  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  merit 
of  such  conclusions  and  the  fitness  of  their 
rehearsal  "to  the  marines;'5  but  none  as  to 
the  measure  of  welcome  of  those  that  hold 
them.  However,  given  that  they  are  cor 
rect.  Self-respect  and  a  desire  to  help  the 
old  party  can  go  hand  in  hand,  and  when 
possible  in  a  manly  way,  room  should  be 
made  for  such  anticipated  accession. 

There  is  another  phase  of  present  con 
ditions  that  deserves,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  lias  claimed,  attention.  It  is  the 
emphatic  trend  of  the  national  leaders 
of  the  party  to  conciliate  the  hith 
erto  discordant  elements  in  the  South 
in  the  interest  of  national  harmony,  an 
object  lesson  of  which  was  presented  by 
the  late  President  on  his  Southern  tour. 
But  few  years  have  elapsed  since  no  man 
seeking  a  renomination  on  the  Republican 
ticket  would  have  put  on  and  worn  a  Con 
federate  badge.  This  President  McKinley 
did,  receiving  the  indiscriminate  applause 
and  the  concurrence  of  his  own  party. 
Such  an  act,  which  is  not  only  allowable, 
but  commendable,  would  formerly  have 
been  political  suicide.  This  being  a  move 
ment  in  the  house  of  his  political  alliance, 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  117 

it  is  up  to  the  Negro  to  consider  which  is 
his  best  interest,  should  the  olive  branch 
of  political  friendship  be  extended  by  those 
from  whom  he  receives  his  chief  support. 
Under  like  conditions,  his  white  brother 
would  have  no  hesitancy. 

There  is  yet  another  phase  which 
indicates  the  Negro  in  jeopardy  on 
industrial  lines.  A  few  years  hence 
the  South  will  have  ceased  to  be  chiefly 
agricultural.  Mills  for  cotton,  iron,  and 
other  factories  will  have  dotted  hilltop 
and  valley,  and  with  them  will  come  the 
Northern  operative  with  his  exclusive 
"unions"  and  trade  prejudice,  shutting  the 
doors  of  mills  and  foundries  against  him. 
To  meet  this  scramble  for  favor  from  the 
wealth  and  intelligence  of  the  Southland 
—the  ruling  factors — he  should  avail  him 
self  of  every  appliance  for  fostering  har 
mony  and  co-operation  along  all  the  lines 
of  contact.  In  slavery  and  in  his  subse 
quent  journey  in  freedom  he  has  suffered 
much.  But  what  nation  or  people  have  es 
caped  that  ordeal  who  have  made  mark  in 
the  world's  history?  There  is  now  prospec 
tive  unfriendly  legislation  in  several 
Southern  States;  also  the  lowest  of  the 
whites,  as  they  deem  occasion  may  require, 
go,  often  undisturbed,  on  shooting  and 
lynching  expeditions. 

The  problem  that  continues  to  force  it 
self  for  solution  is,  How  the  innocent  are 
to  receive  immunity  from  these  outrages 
or  a  fair  trial,  when  accused  of  crime. 


118  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

These  being*  under  the  purview  of  State 
sovereignty,  the  Federal  arm  is  not  only 
powerless,  but  there  exists  no  Northern 
sentiment  favoring  drastic  means  for  their 
correction.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  relief 
can  only  come  from  those  who  fashion  the 
sentiment  that  crystallizes  into  law.  But 
with  the  bitter  is  mingled  the  sweet;  much 
of  his  advancement  along  educational  and 
material  lines  is  due  to  the  liberality  of  the 
white  people  of  the  South,  who,  it  has  been 
computed,  have  contributed  ono  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  since  emancipation  by 
taxes  and  donations  for  his  education,  and 
there  are  many  evidences  that  the  best 
thought  of  the  South  is  in  line  with  Negro 
employment  and  his  educational  advance 
ment  in  the  belief  that  the  more  general 
the  intelligence  the  greater  the  State's 
progress,  morally  and  materially.  This 
conviction  was  emphatically  expressed  by 
an  overwhelming  negative1  vote  in  the  Ar 
kansas  Legislature  recently,  where  a  meas 
ure  was  introduced  to  abandon  him  to  his 
own  taxable  resources  for  education.  The 
ratio  of  his  moral  and  material  product 
will  be  the  measure  of  his  gratitude  for 
this  great  boon.  For,  after  all,  many  of 
"our  great  dangers  are  not  from  without." 
General  -  — ,  a  leading  Democrat  of  this 
State,  and  an  unmistakable  friend  of  the 
negro,  referring  to  the  above  evidence  of 
good  feeling,  said  he  did  not  see  why  I, 
and  other  reputed  leaders,  in  view  of  such 
evidences  of  friendship,  did  not  induce  our 


EDWARD  E.   COOPER. 
Editor  ami  Publisher  of  "Colored  American,"  Washington,  D.  C. 

Founder   of  "  Colored  World  "   and    '"Indianapolis    Freeman"     Conspicuous  u* 
Leader  and  Enterprising  as  a  Journalist. 


SIIADOAV  AND  LIGHT.  119 

people  to  be  fraternal  politically.  I  replied 
that  the  effort  had  once  been  made,  but 
that  the  Democratic  party,  intrenched  as 
it  was  in  large  majorities  in  the  South,  "by 
ways  that  are  dark  and  tricks  that  are 
vain,"  its  leaders  say  they  "do  not  need, 
neither  do  they  solicit,  the  colored  vote; 
but  if  they  choose,  they  may  so  vote."  He 
said  that  certainly  had  a  ringing  sound  of 
independence  and  was  uninviting  as  an  an 
nouncement— an  independence,  however, 
that  will  not  forever  outlive  the  vagaries 
of  sound,  for  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he 
will  not  only  vote  the  ticket,  but  be  ear 
nestly  solicited  to  do  so.  For  it  will  hap 
pen,  during  the  whirligig  of  time  and  ac 
tion,  in  my  party  as  well  as  others,  that 
there  will  be  a  change  of  policies,  newr  is 
sues,  local  dissatisfaction,  friction,  contem 
plated  antagonism  and  the  political  arith 
metic  sounded.  But  I  cannot  but  believe 
that  the  clannishness  of  the  Negro  has 
been  the  boomerang  that  has  knocked  him 
out  of  much  sympathy,  being  impractical 
as  a  political  factor  and  out  of  harmony 
with  the  material  policies  of  the  Southern 
people." 

I  replied  I  had  thought  the  highest  ideal 
of  patriotism  was  adherence  to  measures 
materially  as  well  as  politically  that  were 
for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people. 

He  said :  "I  know^  your  party  preach  that 
they  have  a  monopoly  of  wisdom;  but  the 
fact  is  the  wisest  statesmen  of  the  world 
are  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  benefits 


120  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

claimed  for  the  leading  policies  of  your 
party.  But  how  do  they  benefit  you,  as  a 
dependent  class?  Your  immediate  need  is 
employment  and  good  educational  facili 
ties.  You  should  be  less  sentimental  and 
more  practical.  You  may  honestly  believe 
in  a  protective  tariff,  having  for  its  object 
the  protection  of  the  American  working- 
man,  but  does  it  help  you  when  you  know 
that  the  doors  of  mills,  foundries,  and  man 
ufactories  are  shut  against  you?  As  to 
the  currency,  you  are  at  a  disadvantage 
when  you  attempt  to  antagonize  the  finan 
cial  views  of  your  employers. 

"It  reminds  me  of  an  incident,"  he  con 
tinued,  "in  my  native  town  in  Virginia,  not 
long  after  reconstruction.  There  had  been 
a  drought  and  short  crop,  succeeded  by  a 
pretty  hard  winter.  My  father,  whose  pol 
itics,  you  may  well  judge,  I  being  'a  chip 
of  the  old  block/  without  soliciting  money 
or  favor,  threw  open  his  cellar,  wherem 
was  stowed  many  bushels  of  sweet  pota 
toes;  invited  all  the  destitute  to  come.  It 
is  needless  to  say  they  came.  In  the  spring 
Tobey,  the  Negro  minister  of  the  Baptist 
Church — a  man  illiterate,  but  with  much 
native  sense — after  morning  service,  said: 
'Brethren,  there's  gwine  to  be  a  'lection 
here  next  week,  and  I  wants  you  all  to 
vote  in  de  light  dat  God  has  gin  you  to 
see  de  light,  but  I  spects  to  vote  wid  de 
taters.'  Now,  this  may  seem  ludicrous,  but 
Tobey,  in  that  act,  was  a  fit  representative 
of  the  white  man  in  politics — for  every 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  121 

<:lass  of  American  citizens  except  the  Ne 
gro  divide  their  vote  and  put  it  where  to 
them  personally  it  will  do  the  most  good." 

"Much,"  I  replied,  "that  you  have  said 
is  undoubtedly  true.  But  can  you  wonder 
at  the  Negro's  cohesion?  Is  it  not  a  fact 
that  his  is  the  only  class  of  citizens  that 
your  party  deny  equal  participation  in  the 
franchise,  and  unjustly  discriminate 
against  in  the  application  of  the  laws? 
Where  better  could  a  change  of  conduct 
which  you  would  admire  and  he  so  happily 
embrace,  be  inaugurated  than  within  your 
own  political  household;  where  could  no 
bility  of  character  be  more  grandly  dis 
played  than  by  the  abolition  of  these  vi 
cious  hindrances  to  the  uplifting  of  the 
weak  and  lowly?" 

"Be  that  as  it  may,"  he  replied,  "your 
race  is  not  in  a  condition  to  make  friends 
l>y  opposing  the  prevailing  local  policies  of 
their  environments." 

I  have  narrated  this  interview  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  a  fitting  type  of  the  views 
of  friends  of  the  Negro  of  the  South  who 
somehow  fail  to  see  the  difficulty  in  his 
fraternizing  with  them  in  the  midst  of  so 
much  political  persecution  and  bodily  out 
rage.  I  referred  in  the  above  interview 
to  an  effort  of  colored  leaders  to  assimilate 
with  Southern  politics. 


122  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

In  18TG  (twenty-live  years  ago)  I  was 
President  of  a  National  Convention  held 
at  Nashville,  Tenii,  and  of  which  II.  V.  Red- 
field,  an  able  correspondent  of  the  "Cin 
cinnati  Commercial/'  made  the  following 
unduly  flattering  mention:  "Mifflin  W. 
Gibbs,  of  Arkansas,  was  selected  as  Presi 
dent.  It  may  be  interesting  to  know  that 
Gibbs  is  strongly  in  favor  of  Bristoe,  now 
iin  aspirant  for  the  Presidency.  He  will 
likely  be  a  delegate  from  Arkansas  to  the 
National  Republican  Convention  at  Cin 
cinnati.  He  is  a  lawyer,  one  of  the  fore 
most  of  his  race  in  Arkansas.  He  is  rather 
slender  and  a  genteel-looking  man,  with 
something  in  his  features  that  denotes  su 
periority"  ("Though  poor  in  thanks,"  Red- 
field,  yet  I  thank  thee.)  "His  speech  upon 
taking  the  chair,  was  another  event.  It 
was  the  third  good  speech  of  the  day  and 
calculated  to  leave  the  believers  of  internal 
inferiority  in  something  of  a  muddle. 

"He  made  a  manly  plea  for  equal  rights 
for  his  race.  All  they  wanted  was  an  equal 
chance  in  the  battle  of  life.  They  did  not 
desire  to  hinder  any  man  for  exercising 
his  political  rights  as  he  saw  fit,  and  all 
they  claimed  was  liberty  of  thought  and 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  123 

action  for  themselves.  He  was  sorry  there 
was  occasion  for  a  convention  of  black  men 
to  consider  black  men's  status.  The  fact 
alone  was  evidence  that  the  race  had  not 
been  accorded  right  and  justice.  Of  the 
treatment  of  his  race  in  Arkansas  he  had 
little  to  complain  of,  but  spoke  bitterly  of 
the  murders  at  Vicksburg,  Miss.  He  gave 
the  Kepublican  party,  as  administered  at 
Washington,  several  blows  under  the  chin. 
He  complained  of  bad  treatment  of  col 
ored  men  by  that  party,  notwithstanding- 
all  its  professions.  He  made  the  bold  dec 
laration  that  all  the  whites  of  the  South 
need  do  to  get  their  votes  was  to  promise 
equal  and  exact  justice  and  stand  to  it. 
All  they  wanted  was  their  rights  as  Amer 
ican  citizens  and  would  go  into  the  party 
that  would  secure  them.  He  said  the  ques 
tion  primarily  demanding  the  attention  of 
the  convention  were  educational  and  polit 
ical,  and  he  hoped  the  proceedings  would  be 
so  orderly  as  to  convince  the  whites  pres 
ent  that  we  were  capable  of  self-control. 
H  is  speech  had  a  highly  independent  flavor 
and  the  particular  independent  passages 
were  applauded  by  whites  and  blacks 
alike.'7 

While  the  call  for  the  convention  was 
not  distinctly  political,  that  feature  of  the 
proceedings  was  the  most  pronounced.  For 
at  that  early  day,  through  an  experience 
the  most  bitter,  the  lesson  had  been 
learned  that  politics  was  not  the  panacea, 
but  that  our  affiliation  with  the  Eepub- 


124:  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

lican  party  was  the  main  offence.  Hence 
a  disposition  to  fraternize  with  Southern 
politicians  for  race  protection  and  opportu 
nity  had  many  adherents,  and  voiced  by 
Governor  Pinchback  and  other  prominent 
leaders  in  the  South,  who,  while  preferring 
to  maintain  their  fealty  to  the  Republican 
party,  were  willing  to  sacrifice  that  allegi 
ance  if  they  could  secure  protection  and 
improve  conditions  for  the  race.  Had  the 
leaders  of  Southern  opinion  met  these 
overtures,  even  part  of  the  way,  much  of 
the  friction  and  turbulence  of  subsequent 
years  would  have  been  avoided.  But  that 
there  will  be  a  breaking  up  of  the  political 
solidarity  of  the  South,  not  on  sentimental 
but  on  material  lines,  at  no  distant  day 
all  signs  promise,  and  be  its  status  what  it 
may,  the  Negro  will  benefit  by  comming 
ling  with  the  respective  parties  in  polit 
ical  fellowship.  Laying  down  the  "old 
.grudge"  at  the  door  of  opportunity  and 
entering,  should  the  premises  be  habitable, 
he  could  "report  progress  and  ask  leave  to 
sit  again." 

It  has  been  alleged  to  the  discredit  of 
the  Negro  that  he  too  soon  forgets  an  in 
jury.  Nevertheless  as  a  virtue  it  should 
redound  to  his  credit.  He  is  swift  to  for 
give  and,  if  necessary,  apologize  for  the 
shortcomings  of  his  adversary.  But  hu 
man  nature  seldom  appreciates  forgive 
ness,  preceded  as  it  is  by  censure,  the  sub 
ject  of  which  usually  repels,  and  another 
•melancholy  phase  is  often  apparent,  for  the 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  125- 

pricks  of  conscience  for  those  we  have 
.wronged,  we  seek  solace  by  hating.  There 
are  in  both  parties  a  fraction  of  saints, 
who,  notwithstanding  his  immense  contri 
bution  by  unrequited  labor  to  the  wealth 
of  the  nation  whilst  a  slave;  his  fidelity 
and  bravery  in  every  war  of  the  Republic, 
have  for  him  neither  care  nor  regard;  de 
nounce  him  as  an  incapable  and  a  bad 
legacy.  He  should,  nevertheless,  be  pa 
tient,  diligent,  and  hopeful,  with  apprecia 
tion  for  his  friends  and  for  his  enemies  a 
consciuosness  expressed  in  the  Irishman's 
toast  to  the  Englishman — 

"Here's  to  you,  as  good  as  you  are; 
'  And  here's  to  me,  as  bad  as  I  am; 
But  as  good  as  you  are, 

And  as  bad  as  I  am, 
I'm  as  good  as  you  are, 
As  bad  as  I  am." 

Very  ill  considered  is  the  opinion  held 
and  advocated  by  some,  that  he  should  de 
fer  or  eschew  politics — who  say:  "Let  the 
Negro  be  deprived  of  this  right  of  citizen 
ship  until  lie  learns  how  to  exercise  it  with 
wisdom  and  discretion."  As  well  say  to 
the  boy,  Do  not  go  into  the  water  until 
you  learn  to  swim!  The  highest  type  of 
civilization  is  the  evolution  of  mistakes. 
While  education,  business,  and  skilled  la 
bor  should  have  the  right  of  way  and  be 
primarily  cherished,  his  right  to  vote  and 
persistent  desire  to  exercise  it  should  never 


126  SHADOW  AND  LIiniT. 

be  abandoned,  for  he  will  yet  enjoy  its  full 
est  fruition  all  over  this,  our  God-blessed 
land. 

Among  the  delegates  I  met  at  the  South 
Carolina  convention  in  1871  were  the  Hon, 
William  H.  Grey,  H.  B.  Robinson,  and  J.  H. 
Johnson,  of  Arkansas,  prominent  planters 
and  leaders  in  that  State.  I  was  much  im 
pressed  with  the  eloquence  of  Grey,  and 
the  practical  ideas  advanced  by  Robinson, 
the  one  charmed,  the  other  convinced. 
Learning  that  I  sought  a  desirable  place 
to  locate  in  the  South,  the3'  were  enthusi 
astic  in  describing  the  advantages  held 
out  by  the  State  of  Arkansas.  The  com 
parative  infancy  of  Its  development,  its 
golden  prospects,  and  fraternal  amenities. 
Crossing  the  Arkansas  River  in  a  ferry 
boat,  in  May,  1871,  I  arrived  in  Little  Rock 
a  stranger  to  every  inhabitant.  It  was  on 
a  Sunday  morning.  The  air  refreshing,  the 
sun  not  yet  fervent,  a  cloudless  sky  cano 
pied  the  city;  the  carol  of  the  canary  and 
mocking  bird  from  tree  top  and  cage  was 
all  that  entered  a  peaceful,  restful  quiet 
that  bespoke  a  well-governed  city.  The 
chiming  church  bells  that  soon  after  sum 
moned  worshipers  seemed  to  oid  me  wel 
come.  The  high  and  humble,  in  their  best 
attire,  wended  their  way  to  the  respective 
places  of  worship. 

Little  Rock  at  that  date,  not  un 
like  most  Western  cities  in  their  in 
fancy,  and  bid  for  immigration,  was  ex 
tensively  laid  out,  but  thinly  populated, 


SHADOW  AM)  LIGHT.  127 

having  less  than  12,000  inhabitants.  From 
river  front  to  Twelfth  Street,  on  the  south, 
and  to  Chester  on  flu?  west,  it  was  but 
sparsely  settled.  The  streets  were  unim 
proved,  but  the  gradual  ri*e  from  river 
front  gave  a  natural  drainage.  Residences 
and  gardens  of  the  more  prominent,  on 
the  outskirts,  gave  token  of  culture  and  re 
finement.  The  nom  de  plume  "City  of 
Roses"  seemed  fittingly  bestowed,  for  with 
trellis  or  encircling  with  shady  bower,  the 
stately  doorway  of  the  wealthy,  or  the 
cabin  of  the  lowly  could  be  seen  the  rose, 
the  honeysuckle,  or  other  verdure  of  per 
fume  and  beauty,  imparting  a  grateful  fra- 
grance,  while  "every  prospect  pleases.7' 
My  first  impressions  have  not  been  less 
ened  by  lapse  of  time;  generous  nature  has 
enabled  human  appliance  to  make  Little 
Rock  an  ideal  city. 

As  knowledge  of  the  local  status  of 
a  State,  as  well  as  common  law, 
must  precede  admission  to  the  bar,  I 
applied  and  was  kindly  permitted  to  en 
ter  the  law  office  of  Benjamin  &•  Barnes, 
at  that  time  the  only  building  on  the 
square  now  occupied  by  the  postoffice  and 
the  A  His  Block.  In  this  for  preparatory 
reading  I  was  very  fortunate.  I  not  only 
found  an  extensive  law  library,  but  the 
kindness  and  special  interest  shown  by 
Sidney  M.  Barnes  was  of  incalculable  ben 
efit.  Mr.  Barnes  Avas  an  able  jurist,  one 
of  nature's  noblemen,  genial,  generous, 
and  patriotic.  A  wealthy  slaveholder  in 


128  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

Kentucky,  when  the  note  of  civil  war  was 
sounded,  called  together  his  slaves,  gave 
them  their  freedom,  and  at  an  early  date 
had  them  enrolled  in  the  Federal  army, 
and  went  forth  himself  to  fight  for  the 
Union.  James  K.  Barnes,  his  son,  now  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Fort  Smith,  and  the 
able  United  States  Attorney  for  the  West 
ern  district  of  Arkansas,  and  whose  fellow 
ship  and  kindness  has  extended  through 
all  my  political  career  in  Arkansas,  is  "a 
worthy  son  of  a  noble  sire/7  having  courage 
of  conviction  and  eloquence  in  their  enun 
ciation.  Among  the  young  men  then  prac 
ticing  law  was  Lloyd  G.  Wheeler,  a  gradu 
ate  from  a  law  school  in  Chicago,  popular 
and  an  able  lawyer,  with  considerable 
practice.  In  1872  we  joined,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Wheeler  &  Gibbs,  opening  an  of 
fice  in  the  Old  Bank  Building,  corner  Cen 
ter  and  Markam  Streets. 

It  is  not  without  considerable  trepi 
dation  that  an  infant  limb  of  the 
law  shies  his  castor  into  the  ring, 
puts  up  his  shingle  announcing  that  A, 
B,  or  C  is  an  "Attorney  and  Counsellor 
at  Law."  His  cerebral  column  stiffens  as, 
from  day  to  day,  he  meets  members  of  the 
bar,  who  congratulate  him  upon  his  ad 
vent,  and  feels  his  importance  as  he  waits 
from  day  to  day  for  the  visit  of  his  first 
client,  but  collapses  when  he  arrives  and 
with  ghostly  dread  salutes  him  and  pre 
pares  to  listen  with  a  disturbed  sense  of 
an  awful  responsibility  he  is  about  to  un- 


Horn  in  (rt-Tn 


HON.  JUDSOX  W.   LYONS. 

Present  Register  of  tlie  Treasury. 

A  Graduate  of  Howard   University —  Appointed   by  President 
McKinley  to  the  Above  Position. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  129 

dertake.  For,  side  by  side  with  his  client's 
statements  there  seem  to  appear  in  stately 
majesty  all  the  adjuncts  of  the  law:  First, 
the  inquisitive  glance  of  the  judge,  like  a 
judicial  searchlight,  scans  him  as  he  rises 
to  defend  Mr.  Only  Borrow,  charged  with 
larceny.  Will  he  be  able  to  think  on  his 
feet  at  the  bar  as  he  did  in  his  chair  in 
his  office?  Will  he  succeed  or  fail  in  stat 
ing  his  case,  with  eye  and  ear  of  every  vet 
eran  of  the  bar  intent  on  his  first  utter 
ance?  How  about  the  jury,  that  unknown 
quantity  of  capricious  predilections?  Will 
they  give  him  attention,  or  will  their  eyes 
find  a  more  congenial  resting  place?  Un 
bidden,  the  panorama  insists  on  promi 
nence.  He  attempts  the  most  nonchalant 
air,  tells  Mr.  B.  to  proceed  and  state  his 
case.  This  was  not  the  first  time  that  he 
had  been  requested  to  perform  this  incip 
ient  step  of  the  law's  demand,  and  he  does 
it  Avith  such  astuteness  and  flippancy,  and 
how  he  had  been  wronged  and  persecuted 
by  the  plaintiff,  that  tears,  unbidden,  are 
ready  to  glisten  in  your  eyes.  Injured  in 
nocence  and  your  sworn  duty  to  your  pro 
fession  inspire  courage  and  induce  you  to 
take  his  case.  Later  on  the  tyro  will  have 
learned  that  it  was  highly  probable  that 
Mr.  B.  would  not  have  called  on  him  but 
for  the  fact  that  he  was  not  only  out  of 
cash,  but  out  of  credit  with  able  and  ex 
perienced  practitioners. 

At    the    time    of    my    examination    for 
entry     to     the     bar    by     the     committee, 


130  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

of  which  William  G.  Wlripple  was 
one,  I  was  instructed  that  the  most  im 
portant  acquisition  for  a  member  of  the 
bar  was  ability  to  secure  his  fee.  Having 
noted  all  the  points  of  defence  for  his  hon 
esty,  the  last,  but  not  the  least  matter  to 
be  considered  was  the  fee,  resulting  in  an 
exchange  of  promises  and  his  departure. 
Wlren  the  case  was  called,  for  reasons  not 
divulged,  the  plaintiff  failed  to  appear.  Mr. 
Borrow  was  acquitted;  I  won  my  case  and 
am  still  wooing  my  fee.  The  study  of  the 
law  is  not  solely  of  advantage  to  those  who 
intend  adopting  it  as  a  profession,  for  its 
fundamental  principles  are  interwoven 
with  the  best  needs  of  mankind  in  all  his 
undertakings,  making  it  of  value  to  the 
preacher  or  laymen,  the  merchant  or  poli 
tician.  For  the  young  man  intending  the 
pursuit  of  the  latter  it  is  quite  indispen 
sable.  The  condition  in  the  South  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  giving  opportunity  for 
colored  men  to  engage  in  the  professions 
has  not  been  neglected.  In  each  of  the 
States  there  are  physicians  and  lawyers 
practicing  with  more  or  less  success.  With 
equality  of  standing  as  to  culture,  ability 
and  devotion,  the  doctor  has  had  the  ad 
vantage4  for  a  growing  and  lucrative  prac 
tice.  This  can  be  accounted  for  partly  on 
account  of  the  private  administrations  of 
the  one  and  the  public  career  of  the  other. 
The  physicians  has  seldom  contact  with  his 
professional  brother  in  white  and  escapes 
much  of  the  difficulty  that  lies  in  wait  for 
the  colored  disciple  of  Blackstone. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  L  3 1 

During  my  practice  I  found  the  judges 
•eminently  fair  in  summing  up  the  evidence 
produced,  noting  the  points  and  impar 
tially  charging  the  jurors,  who  were  also 
fair  when  plaintiff  and  defendant  were  of 
the  same  race,  but  who,  alas,  too  often, 
when  the  case  had  been  argued  by,  or  the 
issue  was  between  the  representatives  of 
the  two  races,  bowed  to  the  prevailing  bias 
in  their  verdict.  Bishop,  in  his  introduc 
tion  to  his  "Criminal  Law,"  has  fittingly 
said:  "The  responsibilities  which  devolve 
on  judicial  tribunals  are  admitted.  But  a 
judge  sitting  in  court  is  under  no  higher 
obligation  to  cast  aside  personal  motives 
and  his  likes  and  dislikes  of  the  parties  liti 
gant,  and  to  spurn  the  bribe  if  proffered 
than  any  other  official  person  acting  under 
a  jurisdiction  to  enforce  laws  not  judicial. 
Happy  will  be  the  day  when  public  virtue 
exists  otherwise  than  in  name."  It  often 
happens  with  cases  commanding  liberal 
fees  and  where  the  litigant  has  high  re 
gard  for  the  legal  learning  and  ability  of 
the  colored  lawyer,  yet  conscious  of  this 
hindrance  to  a  successful  issue  of  his  case, 
very  naturally  goes  elsewhere  for  legal  as 
sistance.  Hence,  as  an  advocate  not  hav 
ing  inducement  for  continued  research  and 
opportunity  for  application  of  the  more  in 
tricate  elements  of  the  law,  confined  to 
petty  cases  with  corresponding  fee,  he  is 
handicapped  in  his  effort  to  attain  emi 
nence  as  a  jurist.  It  has  been  said  that 
great  men  create  circumstances.  But  cir- 


132  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

cumstances  unavoidably  produce  great 
men.  Henry  Drummond  is  quoted  as  say 
ing:  "N<o  matter  what  its  possibilities  may 
be,  no  matter  what  seeds  of  thought  or  vir 
tue  lie  latent  in  its  breast,  until  the  ap 
propriate  environment  presents  itself,  the 
correspondence  is  denied,  the  development 
discouraged,  the  most  splendid  possibili 
ties  of  life  remain  unrealized,  and  thought 
and  virtue,  genius  and  art,  are  dead." 

It  should  be  the  solemn  and  persistent 
duty  of  the  race  to  contend  for  every  right 
theMagnaChartaof  the  Republic  has  grant 
ed  them,  but  it  might  assuage  the  pang  of 
deprivation  and  stimulate  opportunity  did 
he  fully  know  the  stages  of  savagery,  slav 
ery,  and  oceans  of  blood  through  which  the 
Anglo-Saxon  passed  to  attain  the  exalted 
position  he  now  occupies.  Much  of  the 
jurisprudence  we  now  have  responding  to 
and  crystallizing  the  best  needs  of  hu 
manity  were  garnered  in  this  sanguine  and 
checkered  career.  It  is  said  that  the  law 
is  a  jealous  mistress,  demanding  intense 
and  entire  devotion  and  unceasing  wooing 
to  succeed  in  winning  her  favor,  or  profit 
ing  by  her  decrees.  Yet,  for  student  or  lay 
man,  the  study  is  instructive  and  en 
nobling.  It  is  an  epitome  of  ages  of  hu 
man  conduct,  the  products,  the  yearnings, 
and  strivings  of  the  human  heart,  as  higher 
conceptions  of  man's  relation  to  his  fellow 
found  echo  or  inscription  in  either  the 
common  or  written  law.  Locality,  nation 
ality,  race,  sex,  religion,  or  social  manner 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


133 


may  differ,  but  the  accord  of  desire  for 
civil  liberty — the  "torch  lit  up  in  the  soul 
by  the  omnipotent  hand  of  Deity  itself  '- 
is  ever  the  same.  Constitutional  law  "was 
not  attained  by  sudden  flight,"  but  it  is  the 
product  of  reform,  with  success  and  re 
straint  alternating  through  generations. 
11:  is  the  ripeness  of  a  thousand  years  of 
ever-recurring  tillage,  blushing  its  scarlet 
rays  of  blood  and  conquest  ante-datingjiis- 
toric  "Runny  Meade." 

It  is  well  to  occasionallv  have  such  rem 
iniscent  thought;  it  makes  us  less  pessimis 
tic  and  gives  life  to  strive  and  spirit  and 
hope.  We  cannot  unmake  human  nature, 
but  can  certainly  improve  conditions  by 
self-denial,  earnest  thought,  and  wise  ac 
tion. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Previous  to  my  resolve  to  settle  in  the 
South  1  had  read  and  learned  much  of 
politics  and  politicians;  the  first  as  being 
environed  by  abnormal  conditions  unstable 
and  disquieting — the  class  that  had  estab 
lished  and  controlled  the  enonomy  of  the 
Southern  States;  had  been  deposed  in  the 
wage  of  sanguinary  battle  on  many  well 
contested  fields — deposed  by  an  opponent 
equally  brave,  and  of  unlimited  resources; 
defeated,  but  unsubdued  in  the  strength  of 
conviction  in  the  rightfuliiess  of  their 
cause.  A  submission  of  the  hand  but  not 
of  the  heart.  New  constitutions  granting 
all  born  beneath  the  flag  equality  of  citi 
zenship  and  laws  in  unison  adopted,  and 
new  officers  alien  to  local  feeling  were  the 
executors. 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  remark  that  if 
a  succession  of  love  feasts  had  been  an 
ticipated,  they  had  been  indefinitely  post 
poned. 

For  the  officers  of  the  new  system  were 
by  their  whilom  predecessors  ordered  to 
go  "nor  stand  upon  the  order  of  their  go 
ing,"  the  bullet  at  times  conveying  the 
order.  Assassinations,  lyuchings,  and  re- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  135 

prisals  by  both  parties  to  the  feud  were  of 
daily  occurrence.  The  future  for  life,  lib 
erty,  and  pursuit  of  happiness  in  busy  city 
or  sylvan  grove,  was  not  alluring.  My  sub 
sequent  career  makes  it  necessary  for  nie 
to  arise  to  explain.  Taking  at  the  time  a 
calm  survey  of  the  situation,  an  addition  to 
the  column  of  martyrs  seemed  to  me  un 
necessary.  I  believed  in  the  principles  of 
the  Republican 'party  and  as  a  private  I 
was  willing  to  vote,  work,  and  be  slightly 
crippled;  but  had  not  reached  the  bleeding 
and  dying  point.  With  such  conclusions  I 
resolved  to  come,  and  confine  myself 
to  the  pursuit  of  my  profession  and  give 
politics  a  "terrible  letting  alone."  Oh,  if 
abandoned  resolutions  were  a  marketable 
commodity,  what  emporium  sufficiently  ca 
pacious  and  who  competent  to  classify! 

The  organization  of  the  Republican  party 
(•f  Arkansas  was  on  the  eve  of  disruption. 
Its  headquarters  were  in  the  building  and 
over  the  law  office  of  Benjamin  &  Barnes, 
with  whom  I  was  reading.  Violent  dis 
putes  as  to  party  policy,  leadership,  and 
the  distribution  of  the  plums  of  office 
were  of  frequent  occurrence.  I  very  dis 
tinctly  remember  the  day  when  the  cli 
max  was  reached  and  "the  parting  of  the 
ways"  determined.  The  adherents  of  Sen 
ator  Clayton  and  the  State  administration 
on  the  one  part,  and  Joseph  Brooks  and 
his  followers  on  the  other,  coming  down 
the  stairs — some  with  compressed  lip  and 
flashing  eye,  others  as  petulent  as  the  chil 


136  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

dren  who  say:  "I  don't  want  to  play  in 
your  yard;  I  don't  like  you  any  more."  It 
was  the  beginning  of  the  overt  act  that  ex 
tinguished  Republican  rule  in  Arkansas. 
The  factions  led  by  Powell  Clayton  and 
Joseph  Brooks,  respectively,  were  known 
as  the  "Minstrels"  and  "Brindle  Tails." 

Incongruity,  being  the  prevailing  force, 
possibly  accounted  for  the  contrary  char 
acter  of  the  names,  for  there  was  little 
euphony  in  the  minstrelsy  of  the  one  or  a 
monopoly  of  brindle  appearance  in  the 
other,  for  each  faction's  contingent,  were 
about  equally  spotted  with  the  sons  of 
Ham.  My  friends,  Benjamin  &  Barnes, 
were  prominent  as  Brindles,  and  I,  being 
to  an  extent  a  novice  in  the  politics  of  the 
State,  in  a  position  to  hear  much  of  the 
wickedness  of  the  Minstrels  and  but  little 
of  the  "piper's  lay"  in  his  own  behalf, 
fidelity  to  my  friends,  appalled  at  the  al 
leged  infamy  of  the  other  fellows,  sus 
ceptible  to  encomiums  which  flattered  am 
bition,  I  became  a  Brindle,  and  an  active 
politician  minus  a  lawyer. 

In  1873  I  was  appointed  County  Attor 
ney  for  Pulaski,  and  after  a  few 
months'  service  resigned  to  assume  the 
office  of  Municipal  Judge  of  the  City 
of  Little  Rock,  to  which  I  had  been 
elected.  I  highly  appreciated  this,  as  ex 
ceedingly  complimentary  from  a  popula 
tion  of  16,000,  a  large  majority  of  which 
were  not  of  my  race.  I  entered  upon  and 
performed  the  duties  of  the  office  until 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  1  37 

some  time  after  the  culmination  of  the 
Brooks  and  Baxter  war  in  the  State.  It 
having  been  announced  that  I  was  the  first 
of  my  race  elected  to  such  an  office  in  the 
United  States,  it  was  not  without  trepida 
tion  that  I  assumed  the  duties  that  the 
confidence  of  my  fellow  citizens  had  im 
posed  upon  me  for  the  novelty  of  such  an 
administration  attracted  attention. 

A  judge  who  has  to  deal  with  and  inflict 
penalties  for  violation  of  law  consequent 
upon  the  frailties  and  vices  of  mankind  en 
counters  much  to  soften  or  harden  his  hu 
manity,  which  may  have  remained  normal 
but  for  such  contact.  His  sworn  duty  to  ad 
minister  the  law  as  he  finds  it  often  con 
flicts  with  a  sense  of  justice  implanted  in 
the  human  soul,  of  which  the  law,  imper 
fect  man  has  devised  is  often  the  imper 
fect  vehicle  for  his  guidance;  but  never 
theless  to  which  his  allegiance  must  be 
paramount,  even  when  attempting  to  tem 
per  justice  with  mercy. 

Nowhere  is  so  plainly  presented  as 
many  of  the  various  lights  and  shad 
ows  of  human  character.  Love  and 
faithlessness,  sincerity  and  deceit,  no 
bility  and  dishonor,  kindness  and  in 
gratitude,  morality  and  vice — all  the  vir 
tues  and  their  antitheses  take  their  place 
at  the  bar  of  the  court  of  justice  and  await 
the  verdict,  while  truth  and  deception 
strive  for  conquest;  an  honest  son  of  toil 
arrested  in  a  den  of  infamy  whither  he  has 
been  decoyed  and  Ms  week's  earnings 


138  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

filched;  his  wife  in  tears  before  you;  the 
clash  of  prejudice  when  the  parties  liti 
gant  were  of  opposite  races;  the  favorable 
expectation  of  the  rich,  prominent,  and  in 
fluential  when  confronted  by  the  poor  and 
lowly;  humble  and  conscientious  innocence 
appalled  when  rigid  law  would  mulct  them 
in  line  and  imprisonment;  the  high  and 
the  haughty  incensed  at  discharge  of  the 
obscure  and  indigent.  In  cases  slight, 
where  the  justice  of  leniency  was  apparent 
and  yet  the  mandates  of  the  law  had  to 
be  enforced,  1  would  pronounce  the  pen 
alty  and  suspend  the  fine  during  good  be 
havior.  But  if  the  culprit  returned,  mercy 
was  absent. 

An  incident  in  relation  to  the  suspen 
sion  of  the  line  will  show  that  I  did  to 
others  as  I  would  have  others  do  to  me: 
A  member  of  the  court  was  at  times  irri 
table  and  vexations.  During  a  session  there 
was  a  misunderstanding,  which,  upon 
adjournment,  growing  in  intensity,  resulted 
in  my  committing  an  assault.  The  chasm, 
however,  was  soon  bridged  with  mutual 
pledges.  Nevertheless  I  requested  the 
chief  of  police  to  have  charge  entered  upon 
docket,  to  come  up  at  next  session  of  court, 
whereupon  the  judge,  after  expressing  re 
gret  that  the  law  had  been  violated,  fined 
Citizen  Gibbs  and  suspended  the  fine  dur 
ing  good  behavior,  and,  as  the  citizen  was 
not  again  arraigned,  it  may  be  presumed 
that  his  conduct  was  reasonably  good,  how 
ever  doubtful  may  be  the  presumption. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

I  was  fortunate  in  haviua  the  confidence 
of  the  community,  always  an  important  ad 
junct  to  the  bench,  for  it  is  not  always  that 
the  executor  of  the  law  lias  to  deal  with 
the  humble  of  no  repute.  An  old  resident, 
wealthy  and  prominent,  was  arrested  and 
was  to  appear  before  me  for  trial.  Dur 
ing-  the  interim  it  was  several  times  sug 
gested  to  me  in  a  friendly  way  that  I  had 
better  give  the  case  a  letting  alone  by  dis 
missal,  as  it  would  probably  be  personally 
dangerous  to  enforce  the  law,  as  he  was 
known  to  be  impulsive  and  at  times  vio 
lent.  I  heard  the  case,  which  had  aggra 
vated  features,  together  with  resisting  and 
assaulting  an  officer,  and  imposed  the  high 
est  penalty  provided  by. law.  Those  who 
had  thought  that  such  action  would  give 
offence  little  knew  the  man.  It  being  the 
last  case  on  the  docket  for  the  day,  de 
scending  from  the  bench  and  passing,  I 
saluted  him,  which  he  pleasantly  returned, 
Avithout  a  murmur  as  to  the  justice  of  the 
fine.  Subsequently,  on  several  occasions, 
he  placed  me  under  obligations  to  him  for 
favors.  Personally,  insignificant  as  I  may 
have  been  to  him,  he  recognized  in  me  for 
the  time  being  a  custodian  of  the  majesty 
of  the  law,  which  he  knew  he  had  violated. 
When  it  shall  happen  as  a  rule  and  not  as 
the  exception  that  men  will  esteem,  ap 
plaud  and  sustain  the  honest  administra 
tion  of  the  law,  irrespective  of  the  admin 
istrator,  a  great  step  will  have  been  taken 
toward  a  better  conservation  of  constitu- 


140  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

tional  liberty.  In  Arkansas  the  political 
cauldron  continued  to  boil.  In  Powell 
Clayton  were  strongly  marked  the  ele 
ments  of  leadership,  fidelity  to  friends,  ora 
torical  power,  honesty  of  purpose,  courage 
of  conviction,  with  unflinching  determina 
tion  to  enforce  them.  The  late  Joseph 
Brooks,  an  ex-minister  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  who  secularized  as  a  politi 
cian,  was  an  orator  to  be  reckoned  with. 
Sincere,  scathing,  and  impressive,  his  fol 
lowing  was  large  and  devoted.  Senator 
Clayton,  the  present  Ambassador  to  Mex 
ico,  has  outlived  the  political  bitterness 
that  so  long  assailed  him,  and  was  lately 
guest  of  reception  and  banquet  given  him 
and  largely  attended  by  Democrats,  chiefly 
his  political  opponents. 

The  divided  Republicans  held  their  State 
convention  in  1872.  The  Clayton  faction 
(the  Minstrels)  had  for  their  nominee 
Elisha  Baxter,  a  North  Carolinian  by  birth, 
and  hence  to  the  Southern  manor  born. 
This,  is  was  premised,  would  bring 
strength  to  the  ticket.  Joseph  Brooks  was 
the  nominee  of  the  Brindle  wing  of  the 
party,  and  a  battle  royal  was  on.  Although 
a  minority  of  Democrats  respectable  in 
number  joined  the  Brooks  faction,  the  ma 
jority  stood  off  with  wish  for  "plague  on 
both  your  houses,"  and  awaited  the  issue. 
It  was  in  my  first  of  twenty-eight  years  of 
recurrent  canvassing.  Many  districts  of 
the  State  at  that  time  being  destitute  of 
contact  by  railroads,  made  wagon  and 
buggy  travel  a  necessity. 


HON.   POWELL  CLAYTON. 
Einbaswador  to  Mexico. 

Governor    of   Arkansas— Unit*-1'1    ^tatcp    Senator — Honest    and    Fearless,    with    a 
Public  and  Private  Life  Beyond  Reproach. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  141 

After  nominations  were  made  for  the  va 
rious  State  officers  in  convention,  appoint 
ments  were  made  and  printed  notices 
posted  and  read  at  church  and  schoolhouse 
neighborhoods,  that  there  would  be 
"speaking77  at  stated  points. 

The  speakers,  with  teams  and  literature 
and  other  ammunition  of  political  warfare 
known  and  "spiritually77  relished  by  the 
faithful,  would  start  at  early  morn  from 
their  respective  headquarters  on  a  tour  of 
one  or  two  hundred  miles,  filling  ten  or 
twenty  appointments.  Good  judgment  was 
necessary  in  the  personal  and  peculiar  fit 
ness  of  the  advocate.  For  he  that  could 
by  historic  illustration  and  gems  of  logic 
carry  conviction  in  a  cultured  city  would 
be  "wasting  his  sweetness  on  the  desert 
air77  in  the  rural  surroundings  of  the 
cabins  of  the  lowly.  I  have  heard  a  point 
most  crudely  stated,  followed  by  an  appo 
site  illustrative  anecdote,  by  a  plantation 
orator  silence  the  more  profuse  cultured 
and  eloquent  opponent. 

As  he  was  still  at  his  lesson  on  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  citizenship, 
it  was  a  study  worthy  the  pencil  of  a  Ho 
garth  to  watch  the  play  of  lineament  of 
feature,  while  gleaning  high  ideals  of 
citizenship  and  civil  liberty  amid  the  clash 
of  debate  of  political  opponents;  cheerful 
acquiescence,  cloudy  doubt,  hilarious  be- 
lief,  intricate  perplexity,  and  want  of  com 
prehension  by  turns  impressed  the  counte- 


SHADOW   AND    LIGHT. 

nance.  But  trustful  in  the  sheet  anchor 
of  liberty,  they  were  worthy  students,  who 
strove  to  merit  the  great  benignity.  Can 
vassing  was  not  without  its  humorous 
phases  during  the  perilous  times  of  recon 
struction.  The  meetings,  often  in  the 
woods  adjoining  church  or  schoolhouse, 
were  generally  at  a  late  hour,  the  men  hav 
ing  to  care  for  their  stock,  get  supper,  and 
€ome  often  several  miles;  hence  it  was  not 
unusual  for  proceedings  to  be  at  their 
height  at  midnight.  I  was  at  such  a  gath 
ering  in  the  lower  part  of  the  State,  where 
Jack  Agery,  a  noted  plantation  orator,  was 
holding  forth,  denouncing  the  Democracy 
and  rallying  the  faithful.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  natural  ability  and  bristling  with 
pithy  anecdote.  From  a  rude  platform  half 
&  dozen  candles  flickered  a  weird  and  un 
steady  glare.  Agery  as  a  spellbinder  was 
at  his  best,  when  a  hushed  whisper,  grow 
ing  into  a  general  alarm,  announced  that 
members  of  the  Ku  Klux,  an  organization 
noted  for  the  assassination  of  Republicans. 
wrere  coming.  Agery,  a  born  leader,  in 
commanding  tones,  told  the  meeting  to  be 
seated  and  do  as  he  bid  them.  The  Ku 
Klux,  disguised  and  pistol  belted,  very 
soon  appeared,  but  not  before  Agery  had 
given  out,  and  they  were  singing  with  fer 
vor  that  good  old  hymn  "Amazing  Grace, 
How  Sweet  It  Sounds  to  Save  a  Wretch 
Like  Me."  The  visitors  stood  till  the  verse 
was  ended,  when  Agery,  self-controlled, 
called  on  Brother  Primus  to  next  lead  in 
prayer. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  143 

Brother  P.  was  soon  hammering  the 
bench  and  calling  on  the  Lord  to  come  on 
His  "white  horse,  and  to  come  this  very 
minute."  "Oh,"  said  the  chief  of  the  night 
riders,  "this  is  only  a  nigger  prayer  meet 
ing.  Come,  let  us  go/'  Scouts  were  sent 
out  and  kept  out  to  see  that  "dis 
tance  lent  enchantment  to  the  view/1 
and  the  political  feature  of  the  meeting  was 
resumed. 

The  Negro  is  not  without  many  of  the 
prominent  characteristics  of  the  successful 
politician.  He  is  aggressive,  Conserva 
tive,  and  astute,  as  occasion  demands. 
Of  the  latter  trait  Hon.  John  Al 
len,  ex-member  of  Congress  from  Mis 
sissippi,  and  said  to  have  been  the 
prince  of  story  tellers,  at  his  own  ex 
pense  gives  this  amusing  incident.  It  was 
on  the  occasion  of  the  Carmack-Patterson 
contested  election  case.  In  beginning  his 
speech  he  called  attention  to  Mr.  Patter 
son's  remarks.  "Did  any  of  you,"  he  said, 
"ever  hear  anyone  pronounce  a  more  beau 
tiful  eulogy  on  himself  than  that  just  pro 
nounced  by  Josiah  Pattersonj?  In  listening 
to  it  I  was  reminded  of  what  my  friend 
Jake  Cuinmings  once  said  about  me.  It 
was  in  the  great  campaign  of  1884.  The 
Cleveland-Hendricks- Allen  Club  at  Tupelo 
had  a,  meeting,  and  Mr.  Taylor  and  Mr.  An 
derson  spoke  to  the  club  that  night.  As 
I  chanced  to  be  at  home  from  my  cam 
paigning,  I  attended  the  club  meeting. 
After  the  regular  speakers  I  was  called 


144  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

for  and  submitted  some  remarks  about  my 
self  and  my  campaign.  After  I  had 
spoken  the  crowd  called  for  Jake  Cum- 
mings,  a  long,  black,  slick  old  Negro  car 
penter,  who  lives  in  Tupelo.  Jake's  speech 
ran  about  this  way:  "Well,  gentlemen,  it's 
gettin'  kinder  late  now.  I  don't  know  as 
it's  necessary  for  me  to  say  anything. 
You's  heerd  Mister  Taylor  and  Mister  Al 
len  on  the  general  politics  of  the  day. 
They's  dun  told  you  what  sort  of  man 
Elaine  is,  and  what  sort  of  a  man  Cleve 
land  is.  It  don't  look  to  me  like  no  honest 
man  ought  to  have  trouble  in  picking  out 
the  fittinest  man  of  them  two.  And  then 
you's  heerd  Mister  Allen  on  hisself,  and  he 
has  ricommended  hisself  so  much  higher 
than  any  the  rest  of  us  kin  ricomniend  him 
it  ain't  worth  while  for  me  to  say  nuthin' 
about  him." 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

There  is  at  present  a  lowering  cloud  on 
prospect  of  righteous  rule  in  many  of  the 
Southern  States,  but  the  relative  rights 
and  responsibilities  of  equitable  govern 
ment,  enunciated  from  desk  in  church, 
schoolhouse,  or  from  stump  in  grove  by 
the  Republicans  during  and  since  recon 
struction,  have  been  an  education  to  the 
poor  whites,  hitherto  ignorant  and  in  com 
plete  political  thraldom  to  the  landed 
class,  and  to  the  freedman  a  new  gospel, 
whose  conception  was  necessarily  limited 
to  his  rights  as  a  newly-fledged  citizen. 
Nevertheless,  they  were  the  live  kernels  of 
equality  before  the  law,  that  still  "have 
their  silent  undergrowth,"  inducing  a  man 
hood  and  patriotism  that  is  now  and  will 
more  and  more  blossom  with  national 
blessing.  Friends  regretfully  and  foes  de 
spairingly  sometimes  speak  of  the  tardi 
ness  of  his  progress.  He  will  compare  fa 
vorably,  however,  for  all  history  records 
that  it  is  slowly,  through  the  crucible  of 
physical  and  mental  toiling,  that  races 
pass  to  an  elevated  status.  For  of  serfs 
he  was  not  the  least  in  his  appreciation  of 
liberty. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  note  on  English 
history  during  the  reign  of  George  III,  of 

(10) 


140  SHADOW    AND    LKIirr. 

the  "colliers  and  sailers,  who  were  not  Xe 
groes,"  says:  "The  persons  engaged  in 
these  occupations  were  at  the  time  bonds 
men,  and  in  case  they  left  (he  ground  of 
the  farms  to  which  they  belonged,  and  as 
pertaining  to  which  their  services  were 
bought  and  sold,  they  were  liable  to  be 
brought  back  by  a  summary  process.  The 
existence  of  this  species  of  slavery  being 
thonghi  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  of 
liberty,  the  "colliers  and  sailers  were  de 
clared  free,  and  put  on  the  same  footing 
with  oilier  servants  by  the  act  of  (ieorge 
III.  Hut  they  were  so  far  from  desiring 
or  prizing  the  blessing  conferred  on  them 
that  they  esteemed  the  interest  taken  in 
their  freedom  to  be  a  mere  decree  on  the 
part  of  the  proprietors  to  get  rid  of  what 
they  called  "head  or  harigold  money"  pay 
able  to  them  when  a  female  of  their  num 
ber,  by  bearing  a  child,  made  an  addition 
to  the  live  stock  of  their  master's  prop 
erty." 

If  the  fitness  for  liberty  is  the  meas 
ure  of  persecution  sustained  in  an  effort 
for  its  enjoyment,  of  that  disciplinary  proc 
ess  the  freedmen  have  not  been  deprived, 
for  ever  since  his  maiden  attempt  to  exer 
cise  the  right  of  an  American  citizen  he  has 
encountered  intense  opposition  and  phys 
ical  outrage,  all  of  which  has  been  met 
by  non-resistance  and  manly  appeal  to  the 
American  conscience  for  protection;  first 
from  the  "Ku  Klux  band"  of  murderers, 
and  subsequently  against  the  vicious  prac- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

(ices  to  deprive  him  of  his  political  rights, 
should  establish  his  claim.  Nevertheless, 
after  a  third  of  a  century  of  successful  en 
deavor,  educationally  and  materially,  ef 
forts  are  being  made  in  Southern  States  for 
his  disfrauchisement  and  the  curtailment 
of  his  education.  Oil  this  attempt  George 
('.  Loriner,  a  noted  divine  and  writer,  in  a 
late  article  in  uThe  Watchman,"  under 
the  head  of  "The  Educational  Solution  of 
.Kace  Problems,"  has  this  to  say: 

"But  may  it  not  be  that  this  reactionary 
movement  rather  expresses  a  fear  of  edu 
cation  than  a  serious  doubt  of  its  power? 
We  must  remember  that  conditions  are  pe 
culiar  in  the  South,  and,  in  some  quarters, 
there  exists  a  not  unnatural  apprehension 
that  Negro  supremacy  may  prevail.  To 
avert  this  political  catastrophe,  extraordi 
nary  measures  have  been  adopted.  To  the 
difficulties  that  beset  the  Southern  people 
we  cannot  be  indifferent,  and  neither 
should  we  assume  that  we  would  act  very 
•differently,  were  we  similarly  situated.  Hut 
we  think,  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances, 
that  their  position  on  this  subject  exposes 
them  to  the  suspicion  that  it  is  the  success 
of  education  they  fear,  and  not  its  failure. 
This  apparent  misgiving  reasonably 
awakens  distrust  in  the  soundness  of  their 
contention/' 

It  is  assumed  by  many  who  oppose  the 
educational  solution  that  inferior  races  are 
unassimilable  in  their  nature  to  the  higher 
•civilization.  Proof  is  sought  for  in  the  al- 


148  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

leged  decadence  or  disappearance  of  the 
Turanian  people  of  Europe,  the  natives  of 
South  America,  and  the  West  India  Isl 
ands.  But  what  is  this  civilization  that  is 
so  fatal  in  its  operation?  What  do  we 
mean  by  the  term?  What  is  that  exalted 
something  before  which  African  and 
Asiatic  must  perish?  Does  it  consist  in 
armies,  machinery,  saloons,  breweries,  rail 
ways,  steamboats,  and  certain  commercial 
methods  that  are  fatal  to  truth  and  hon 
esty.  Baron  Russell,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of 
England,  included  none  of  these  in  his  con 
ception  of  its  character.  He  is  recorded 
as  saying:  "It's  true,  signs  are  thoughts 
for  the  poor  and  suffering,  chivalrous  re 
gard  and  respect  for  women,  the  frank  rec 
ognition  of  human  brotherhood,  irrespec 
tive  of  race  or  color,  or  nation  or  religion; 
the*  narrowing  of  the  domain  of  mere  force 
as  a  governing  factor  in  the  world,  the  love 
of  ordered  freedom,  abhorrence  of  what  is 
mean  and  cruel  and  vile,  ceaseless  devotion 
to  the  claims  of  justice.  Civilization  in  its 
true,  its  highest  sense,  must  make  for 
peace." 

Previous  to  the  National  Convention 
which  nominated  General  Grant  for  a  sec 
ond  term,  there  had  been  held  a  conference 
of  colored  leaders,  who  assembled  at  New 
Orleans  to  elicit  opinion  and  divine  the 
probable  course  of  the  colored  delegates  at 
that  convention.  It  was  there  I  first  met 
that  faithful,  able,  and  invincible  cham 
pion  of  the  race,  Governor  P.  B.  S.  Pinch- 


HON.  PINCKNEY  B.  S.   PINCHBACK, 
United  States  Senator. 

Born  May ,  1&T7— Educated  at  Gilmon  High  School.  Cincinnati,  Ohic-Captaia  Co. 
•      £  Itegiment,    Louisiana     Volunteers^-Member     of     Constitutional 
Convention   of   Louisiana— State   Senator—  Lieutenant-Gover 
nor— Editor  and  Lawyer— Able  as  a  Statesman, 
Eloquent  as  an  Advocate,  and  Unflinch 
ing  in  Defense  of  Equal  Justice. 


SHADOAV  AND  LIGHT.  149 

back  and  Captain  James  Lewis,  my  fellow- 
member  of  the  "Old  Guard,"  who,  true  in 
peace  as  war,  never  surrendered.  The 
conference,  though  not  great  numerically, 
was  strong  in  its  mental  calibre  and  rep 
resentative  character,  with  Douglas, 
Langston,  Ouney,  and  others  who  have 
since  passed  to  the  great  beyond.  The  col 
ored  office  holders  at  Washington  under 
Grant  were  much  in  evidence  and  nat 
urally  eager  for  his  endorsement. 

There  was  much  discussion,  and  while 
an  ardent  advocate  for  Brooks,  I  could  not 
follow  his  supporters — the  Brindle  wing  of 
the  party  in  my  State — in  their  choice  of 
Horace  Greely  for  President.  My  slogan 
in  the  State  canvass  had  been  Grant  for 
President  and  Brooks  for  Governor.  The 
wisdom  of  the  conference  determined  upon 
a  non-committal  policy.  It  was  thought 
unwise,  in  our  peculiar  condition,  to  hasten 
to  proclaim  in  advance  of  the  gathered 
wisdom  of  such  an  august  body  as  a  Na 
tional  Convention.  Hence,  the  conference 
concluded  by  setting  forth  by  resolutions, 
grievances,  and  a  reaffirraation  of  fealty  to 
the  Republican  party. 

The  result  of  the  State  election  in 
Arkansas  in  1872  was  that  Brooks 
got  the  votes  and  Baxter  the  office, 
whereupon  a  contest  was  inaugurated,  ter 
minating  in  civil  war.  The  Baxter,  or  Min 
strel,  wing  of  the  party,  with  the  view  of 
spiking  the  guns  of  the  Brindles,  had,  in 
their  overtures  to  the  Democrats  during 


150  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

the  campaign  and  in  their  platform  at  the 
nominating  convention  declared  in  favor 
of  enfranchising  the  Confederates  that 
took  part  in  the  war  against  the  Union. 
Baxter's  movement  in  that  direction  and 
his  appointment  of  Democrats  to  office  cre 
ated  discontent  in  both  wings  of  the  Re 
publican  party,  leading  to  their  union  and 
determined  steps  for  his  removal  and  the 
seating  of  Brooks,  who,  both  factions  now 
declared,  was  elected.  The  doctrine  of 
estoppel  "cutting  no  figure"  with  the  Bax 
ter  contingent.  A  writ  of  ouster  was  ob 
tained  from  Judge  Vicoff,  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  which  Sheriff  Oliver,  accompanied 
by  Joseph  Brooks,  J.  L.  Hodges,  General 
Catterson,  and  one  or  two  others,  including 
the  writer,  proceeding  to  the  State  House 
and  made  service. 

No  not  ice  of  such  action  having  pre 
ceded,  Governor  Baxter  was  ill-pre 
pared  for  the  announcement.  After  a 
short  parley  with  bis  private  secretary, 
General  McCanany,  escorted  by  the  Sheriff 
and  General  Catterson  down  the  stairway, 
they  were  met  by  Hon.  J.  N.  Smithea,  the 
able  editor  of  the  "Arkansas  Gazette." 
Leaving  the  building,  they  went  direct  to 
the  Antony  House,  on  East  Markam  Street. 
Word  was  sent  to  A.  H.  Garland,  U.  B. 
Rose,  R.  C.  Newton,  and  other  prominent 
Democrats,  who'  soon  joined  him  in  con 
sultation.  Governor  Baxter  immediately 
notified  President  Grant  of  the  situation 
and  sent  instructions  to  the  custodian  of 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  151 

State  arms  at  the  U.  S.  Arsenal  to  honor 
none  but  his  order  for  delivery.  Joseph 
Brooks  was  sworn  in,  and  the  two  Gov 
ernors  made  immediate  preparations  for 
siege  and  defence.  Main  Street  south  from 
the  river  to  the  boundary  line  of  the  city 
was  the  dividing  line  of  the  two  factions, 
Governor  Baxter  to  the  east  on  Markani 
Street,  and  Governor  Brooks,  at  the  An 
tony  House,  to  west;  at  the  State  House 
established  their  respective  quarers. 

A  condition  of  unrest  had  pervaded"  the 
State  for  several  months  preceding 
this  event,  and  when  the  slogan  of 
war  was  sounded  the  respective  ad 
herents  by  hundreds  from  all  over 
the  State  hastened  to  the  capital.  On 
the  morning  following  the  "coup  d'etatv 
a  report  reached  the  State  House  that  a 
company  of  colored  men,  commanded  by 
Gen.  King  White,  from  Pine  Bluff,  had 
arrived  and  was  quartered  on  Rock  Street. 
On  the  assumption  that  the  men  were  mis 
informed  as  to  the  merits  of  the  quarrel, 
it  was  proposed  that  they  be  interviewed. 
To  do  that  was  to  cross  the  line  and  enter 
the  enemy's  territory.  It  was  not  unlike 
the  query  of  the  rats  in  the  fable,  Who 
shall  bell  the  cat?  I  was  solicited,  and, 
learning  I  had  friends  in  the  company,  con 
sented  to  go.  Going  south  on  Center  Street 
to  cross  the  line  by  a  circuitous  route,  I 
reached  Rock  Street,  and  nearly  the  ren 
dezvous.  But  the  "best  laid  plans  of  men 
and  mice  oft  gang  a  glee."  The  emissary 


152  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

had  been  discovered  and  reported.  Ap 
proaching  me  at  a  rapid  rate,  mounted  on  a 
charger  which  seemed  to  me  the  largest, 
with  an  artillery  of  pistols  peeping  from 
holsters,  rode  General  George  L.  Bashman, 
of  the  Baxter  forces.  Reining  up  his  steed 
he  said,  not  unkindly:  " Judge  Gibbs,  I  am 
instructed  to  order  you  to  leave  the  lines 
immediately,  or  subject  yourself  to  arrest/' 
As  formerly  intimated,  and  not  unlike  Ar- 
temus  Ward,  I  was  willing  that  all  iny 
wife's  relatives  might  participate  in  the 
glories  and  mishaps  of  war.  Hence  I 
bowed  a  submissive  acquiescence  and  re 
turned.  I  appreciated  the  amity  expressed 
in  the  manner  and  delivery  of  the  order — 
an  amity  of  which  I  have  been  the  recipient 
from  my  political  opponents  during  the 
thirty  years  of  my  domocile  in  Arkansas. 

General  Rose,  who  held  command  at  the 
Arsenal,  and  had  received  instructions 
from  Washington  to  keep  peace  pending 
a  settlement  of  the  controversy,  with  a  de 
tail  of  soldiers,  had  erected  a  barricade  op 
posite  the  City  Hall  on  Markam  Street  and 
placed  a  piece  of  artillery  on  Louisiana 
Street,  pointing  to  the  river.  In  the  after 
noon  of  their  arrival,  General  White's 
troops,  headed  by  a  brass  band,  marched 
on  Markam  Street  to  the  Antony  House. 
While  so  doing  a  report  became  current 
that  they  were  preparing  to  attack  the 
State  House.  General  Rose  attempted  to 
investigate  and,  with  his  orderly,  rode  rap 
idly  on  Markam  Street,  across  Main,  to 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  153 


ward  the  Antony  House.  At  the  moment  a 
shot,  increasing  into  volleys,  from  combat 
ants  on  either  side,  who  primarily  were 
the  aggressors  was  never  known.  It  re 
sulted  in  several  casualties.  Colonel  Shall 
was  killed  in  the  Antony  House,  and  others 
within  the  precincts  of  the  City  Hall  and 
Metropolitan  Hotel.  Markam  Street  sud 
denly  assumed  a  Sunday-like  appearance, 
the  Brooksites  seeking  safety  in  the  State 
House  and  the  Baxterites  in  the  Antony. 
The  feet  of  General  White's  troops  fought 
bravely.  Three  hours  later  it  was  an 
nounced  that  they  had  made  the  fifty  miles 
to  Pine  Bluff  without  a  break,  windless, 
but  happy.  Each  faction  was  deficient  in 
arms  to  equip  their  adherents.  A  company 
of  cadets  from  St.  John's  College  had  been 
placed  at  the  service  of  Baxter. 

At  the  State  University  at  Fayettesville 
were  stored  rifles  and  ammunition,  the  prop 
erty  of  the  State.  Thither  Col.  A.  S.  Fowler, 
of  the  Brooks  forces,  proceeded,  and,  with 
courage  and  diplomacy,  succeeded  in  ob 
taining  and  placing  a  supply  on  a  flat  boat, 
and  commenced  his  trip  down  the  river.  In 
formation  of  this  movement  having 
reached  the  Antony  House,  the  river 
steamer  Hallie,  with  a  detachment  of  Bax 
ter  forces,  was  dispatched  up  the  river  to 
intercept,  and  succeeded  in  passing  the 
State  House  'without  interference.  The 
circuitous  character  of  the  river  enabled  a 
company  from  the  State  House,  by  quick 
inarch,  to  overhaul  it  at  a  bend  of  the  river, 


154:  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

a  fusillade  of  whose  rifle  shots  killed  the 
captain,  wounded  several  others,  and  dis 
abled  the  steamer,  which  was  captured  and 
brought  back  to  the  State  House.  A  rest 
less  quiet  then  ensued,  occasional]}'  broken 
by  random  shots. 

In  the  meantime  Governor  Baxter  had 
called  an  extraordinary  session  of  his  legis 
lative  adherents,  vacancies  of  recalcitrant 
Republicans  filled,  the  Brooks  government 
denounced,  and  an  appeal  to  the  President 
for  support.  All  the  records  and  appurte 
nances  of  the  Secretary  of  State's  office,  in 
cluding  the  great  seal  of  the  State,  were  in 
possession  of  Brooks  at  the  State  House. 
Information  that  a  duplicate  had  been 
made  in  St.  Louis  and  was  en  route  to  the 
Antony  House  was  received,  whereupon 
General  D.  P.  IJpham  made  application  for 
a  search  warrant  to  intercept  it,  a  copy  of 
which  is  as  follows: 

"I,  D.  P.  Upham,  do  solemnly  swear 
that  one  Elislia  Baxter  and  his  co- 
conspirators  have  ordered  and  caused 
to  be  made,  as  I  am  informed,  a 
counterfeit  of  the  great  seal  of  the  State 
of  Arkansas,  and  that  the  same  is  now  or 
soon  will  be  in  the  express  office  of  the 
city  of  Little  Rock,  as  I  am  informed,  and 
that  the  same  is  intended  for  the  purpose 
of  defrauding,  counterfeiting,  and  forging 
the  great  seal  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  by 
the  paid  Elisha  Baxter  and  his  co-conspir 
ators,  and  to  use  the  same  for  illegal  and 
fraudulent  purposes,  against  the  peace  and 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  ,155 

dignity  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  and  I  ask 
that  a  search  warrant  may  issue  forthwith, 
according  to  law,  to  search  for  and  seize 
said  counterfeit  seal,  wherever  or  in  whom 
soever  possession  it  may  be  found. 

"(Signed.)  D.  P.  UPHAM. 

"Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this 
1st  day  of  May,  1874.       M.  W.  GIBBS, 

"City  Judge." 

The  warrant  was  duly  served  and  return 
made,  with  the  seal.  Baxter,  having  now 
ignored  the  men  who  placed  him  in  power, 
called  around  him  as  supporters  and  ad 
visers  the  brain  and  strength  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party.  Meanwhile  each  party  had 
representatives  in  Washington,  urging 
their  claims  for  recognition.  As  a  party, 
the  Republicans  Avere  at  a  disadvantage. 
When  Brooks,  being  elected,  was  contest 
ing  Baxter's  right  to  the  Governorship, 
Baxter  was  supported  by  the  leading  and 
most  prominent  republicans  of  the  State, 
who  swore  "by  all  the  gods  at  once"  that 
he  and  not  Brooks  was  elected;  but  now 
they  swore  at  once  at  all  opposing  gods, 
who  said  that  Baxter  was. 

A  committee  of  Brooks  men,  of  whom 
the  writer  was  one,  was  sent  to 
Washington  to  present  the  claims  and 
conditions  to  the  President.  When 
the  train,  en  route,  stopped  at  Alexan 
dria  a  gentleman  came  hurriedly  in  and, 
accosting  another,  said:  "What  do  you 
think?  Grant  has  recognized  Baxter."  I 


156  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

did  not  learn  the  thought  or  hear  the  re 
sponse,  being  possessed  immediately  by  a 
feeling  not  unlike  the  boy  whose  "piece  of 
bread  and  butter  falls  with  the  butter  side 
-down."  We  pursued  our  way  to  Washing 
ton  to  find  the  report  true.  We  called  at 
the  White  House  several  times,  but  the 
engagements  of  the  President  prevented 
#n  interview.  Late  of  an  a|  ternoon,  sitting 
in  my  room  on  I  Street,  I  saw  the  Presi 
dent  approaching  slowly  and  alone.  I  put 
on  my  hat,  and  was  soon  with  him,  and, 
with  becoming  salute,  addressed  him. 
General  Grant,  who  was  ever  accessible  to 
the  most  humble,  attentively  listened,  as 
we  walked,  to  my  brief  statement  of  our 
case.  He  replied  that  his  sympathies  were 
with  us,  for  he  believed  that  Brooks  was 
elected ;  but  that  his  Attorney  General  had 
given  an  opinion  that  the  people,  through 
the  expression  of  their  last  Legislature, 
had  endorsed  Baxter,  and  that  he  must  ac 
quiesce. 

That  this  avowal  was  sincere  was  shown 
by  a  subsequent  message  to  Congress 
on  the  subject,  condemning  the  pro 
cess  by  which  the  Democracy  had  vaulted 
into  power.  When  the  dispatch  from 
Washington  recognizing  Baxter  was  re 
ceived  at  the  Antony  House  the  faithful, 
while  making  the  welkin  ring,  made  im 
mediate  preparations  to  take  undisturbed 
possession  of  the  State  House.  The  march 
of  Governor  Baxter  and  his  adherents  to 
the  capital  was  made,  as  imposing  as  had 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  1  5T 

his  former  exclusion  been  humiliating.  A 
band  playing  inspiring  music  not  unlike 
"See,  the  Conquering  Hero  Comes/'  and 
stepping  to  the  air  came  an  array,  led  by 
General  King  White,  on  horseback,  with 
flags  flying,  animated  and  exhilarated  with 
all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  victo 
rious  legion,  entered  and  occupied  the 
building  which  Brooks  and  his  following, 
defeated  and  depressed,  had  vacated,  in 
obedience  to  the  President's  mandate.  The 
prospect  for  their  rehabilitation  seemed 
shadowy,  but,  with  that  hope  said  "to 
spring  eternal  in  the  human  breast,"  they 
had  resolved  to  carry  their  contest  to  Con 
gress. 

It  may  be  properly  said  of  Joseph 
Brooks,  as  of  Charles  II,  "His  fault — and 
no  statesman  can  have  a  worse  one — was 
that  he  never  saw  things  as  they  really 
were.  He  had  imagination  and  logic,  but 
he  was  an  idealist,  and  a  theorizer,  in 
which  there  might  have  been  good  if  only 
his  theories  and  ideals  had  not  been  out 
of  relation  with  the  hard  duties  of  a  day 
of  storm." 

*  There  was  opportunity  for  him  to  have 
secured  the  approval  of  the  Poland  Com 
mittee.  But  the  tenacity  of  his  ideal  of 
no  concession  allowed  it  to  pass. 


158  SHADOW    AND   LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

In  1874  a  constitutional  convention  was 
called  and  a  new  constitution  adopted. 
At  the  State  convention  of  the  Democratic 
party  for  the  nomination  of  State  officers 
Baxter  was  the  favorite  for  re-election  as 
Governor,  and  probably  would  have  been 
the  choice,  had  not  the  more  astute  poli 
ticians  put  the  United  States  senatorial 
"bee  in  his  bonnet/7  w^hich  induced  a  letter, 
fervid  and  patriotic,  declining  the  nomina 
tion.  Baxter  was  confiding  and  honest,  but 
not  an  adept  in  the  wily  ways  of  the  politi 
cian.  Augustus  H.  Garland  was  elected 
Governor,  and  in  the  United  States  sena 
torial  race  Baxter  wTas  "left  at  the  stand." 
It  was  then,  as  it  oft  happens,  that— 


and  the  soldier  all  men  adore, 
In  time  of  war,  and  not  before* 
When  the  war  is  over    and    all    things 

righted, 
God  is  forgot,  and  the  soldier  slighted." 

Augustus  H.  Garland  was  a  Senator  in 
the  Confederate  Congress  in  1861,  succeed 
ing  Baxter  as  Governor,  then  United 
States  Senator  from  Arkansas,  and  sub 
sequently  a  member  of  President  Cleve- 


HON.  AUGUSTUS  H.  GARLAND 

A  learned  jurist,  broad  and  humane.  A  member  of  the  Con 
federate  Congress  —  Governor  of  and  United  States  Senator  for 
Arkansas — A  member  of  President  Cleveland's  Cabinet — Evidencing 
in  every  position,  that  it  was  a  selection  "fit  to  be  made." 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  159 

land's  Cabinet,  evidencing  in  every  posi 
tion  that  it  was  a  selection  "fit  to  be  made" 
not  only  for  his  ability  and  attainments 
as  a  statesman,  but  for  rugged  honesty  of 
purpose  and  broad  humanity  as  a  man. 
Taking  the  reins  of  government  at  the 
zenith  of  a  successful  revolution,  when  vio 
lence  sought  gratification,  desire  rampant 
for  prosecution  and  persecution,  Governor 
Garland,  by  a  conservative  policy,  soothed 
the  OIK*  and  discouraged  the  other — a  pol 
icy  early  announced  in  his  first  proclama 
tion,  an  extract  of  which  is  as  follows: 
"Should  there  be  any  indictments  in  the 
courts  for  past  political  offences,  I  would 
suggest  and  advise  their  dismissal.  Let 
people  of  all  parties,  races  and  colors 
come  and  be  welcomed  to  our  State  and 
encouraged  to  bring  her  up  to  a  position 
of  true  greatness."  His  friendship  I  highly 
esteemed,  and,  learning  of  his  demise, 
could  not  but  submit  the  following  token : 
"Tamatave,  Madagascar, 

"April  17,  1899. 
"Editor  Little  Rock  Gazette: 

"Sitting  in  the  Consulate,  way  down 
on  the  banks  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  the  Ga 
zette  comes  to  me  laden  with  expressions  of 
sorrow  on  the  passing  of  my  friend,  ex- 
United  States  Attorney  General  A.  H.  Gar 
land.  Truly,  'a  great  man  has  fallen.'  In 
him  the  nation  has  lost  an  eminent  states 
man  and  Arkansas  a  most  distinguished 
citizen,  celebrated  for  his  intellectuality 


160  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

and  valued  services  to  the  Commonwealth'. 
I  said  4my  friend/  and  I  reiterate,  in  no 
platform  sense  of  that  term.  Twenty-five 
year  ago  I  was  municipal  judge  of  the 
city,  at  the  time  when  the  conflict  for  party 
ascendancy  was  most  intense.  When  pas 
sion  struggled  for  the  mastery,  as  Gov 
ernor,  he  was  in  reality  to  me  a  friend. 
During  his  residence  at  the  capital  I  have 
never  visited  Washington  without  seeking 
and  as  promptly  receiving  his  kindly  greet 
ing.  On  several  occasions  his  services, 
eagerly  given,  were  most  helpful.  He  was 
not  only  mentally  eminent,  but  morally 
great. 

"Ever  approachable,  he  was  a  manly 
man,  with  courage  of  conviction,  and,  while 
urging  them  with  a  zeal  born  of  honest  be 
lief,  had  the  inestimable  faculty  of  win 
ning  adherents  by  strength  of  presentation, 
blended  with  suavity  of  manner.  He  was 
conspicuous  in  this,  that  his  broad  soul  ex 
panded  with  tender  and  affectionate  re 
gard  for  the  poor  and  humble.  Reserved 
in  manner,  magnanimous  and  catholic  in 
a  spirit  that  embraced  the  'world  as  his 
country,  and  all  mankind  as  his  country 
men.'  So  in  the  archives  of  memory  I  make 
haste  to  lay  this  small  tribute  to  a  departed 
friend,  who  still  seems  as  'one  long  loved 
and  but  for  a  season  gone.7 ' 

I  was  present,  but  not  a  delegate,  at  the 
convention  that  nominated  General  Grant 
for  a  second  term,  at  the  Academy  of  Mu 
sic,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1872. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  161 

The  proceedings,  reported  and  pub 
lished,  of  a  National  Convention  are  al 
ways  interesting,  but  lose  much  of  the  im 
pression  and  force  of  actuality  with  which 
an  auditor  and  spectator  is  affected.  The 
gayety  and  magnetism  of  numbers,  the 
scintillations  of  brain  in  special  advocacy, 
followed  by  tumultuous  accord.  The  in 
tensity,  the  anxiety  depicted,  while  results 
far  reaching  and  momentous  are  pending, 
furnish  a  scene  vivid  and  striking  that  can 
not  be  pictured.  Here  is  being  formed  the 
policy  of  a  party  which  is  to  be  subjected 
to  the  winnowing  fan  of  acute  and  honest 
criticism,  and  by  denunciation  by  opposite 
parties,  striving  to  obtain  the  administra 
tion  of  the  Government,  the  fiat  of  which 
and  the  selection  of  the  standard-bearer 
constitute  the  claim  for  the  suffrage  of  the 
people.  They  are  the  preparatory  corner 
stones  of  self-government,  fashioned  and 
waiting  for  the  verdict  of  the  nation. 

Committees  on  platform  and  resolutions 
are  generally  composed  of  the  radical  and 
conservative  elements  of  a  party,  so  that, 
while  the  canvass  is  up  and  on,  it  shall 
have  steered  between  "the  rocks  of  too 
much  danger  and  pale  fear"  and  reached 
the  port  of  victory.  Experience  during  the 
period  since  last  it  met  may  have  had 
much  to  do  with  silence  or  brief  mention 
of  the  heretofore  darling  shibboleth  with 
which  they  were  wont  to  inspire  the  faith 
ful,  rally  the  laggards,  or  capture  converts. 
"Consistency,  thou  art  a  jewel"  that  dax- 

(ii) 


162  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

zles,  confuses,  but  doth  not  bewilder  the 
ordinary  politician,  who  can  allow  a  for 
mer  policy  noiseless  and  forsaken  to  sink 
into  the  maelstrom  of  neglected  and  un 
requited  love.  Prolific  in  schemes  is  the 
procedure  of  a  minority  party,  not  the 
least  is  the  selection  of  a  standard-bearer, 
who  lias  been  the  most  sparse  and  reticent 
in  utterance,  hence  a  record  the  least  as 
sailable,  that  extracts  from  his  opponents 
the  exclamation  of  one  in  Holy  Writ,  "Oh, 
that  mine  enemy  had  written  a  book/' 

Among  the  men  who  made  mark  at  the 
convention  above  referred  to  was  Oliver  1*. 
Morton,  of  Indiana,  styled  the  ''War  Gov 
ernor,"  for  the  patriotism  and  alacrity 
which  he  summoned  his  State  in  response 
to  the  national  call,  caught  up  and  fol 
lowed  by  every  loyal  State  during  the  rivil 
War.  A  continued  invalid,  with  lower 
limbs  paralyzed,  with  massive  head  and 
inspired  brain,  assisted  by  two  servants  to 
a  chair  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  he 
made  the  speech  of  the  convention.  An 
other  novel  incident  was  the  occupation 
of  the  platform  of  a  National  Convention 
by  Afro-Americans.  The  Late  Hon.  Wil 
liam  II.  (fray,  the  faithful  and  eloquent 
leader  of  the  colored  Republicans  of  Ar 
kansas,  and  (he  late  Hon.  I\.  B.  Elliott, 
Congressman  from  South  Carolina,  were 
invited  to  speak. 

A  few  of  their  well-chosen  words  in  ex 
ordium  were  as  follows: 

Mr.  Gray  said  :  "Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  163 

vention:  For  the  first  time,  perhaps,  in  the 
history  of  the  American  people,  there 
stands  before  you  in  a  National  Convention 
assembled,  a  representative  of  that  op 
pressed  race  that  has  lived  among  you  for 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years;  who,  by  the 
magnanimity  of  this  great  nation,  lifted  by 
the  power  of  God  and  the  hands  of  man 
from  the  degradation  of  slavery  to  the 
proud  position  of  an  American  citizen/' 

Mr.  Elliott  said:  "Gentlemen  of  the  Con 
vention:  It  is  with  great  appreciation  of 
the  compliment  paid  my  State  that  I  rise 
to  respond  to  your  invitation  to  address 
you.  I  stand  here,  gentlemen  of  the  con 
vention,  together  with  my  colleagues  from 
the  several  States,  as  an  illustration  of  an 
accomplished  fact  of  American  emancipa 
tion,  not  only  as  an  illustration  of  the  man 
agement  of  the  American  people,  but  as  a 
living  example  of  the  justice  of  the  Amer 
ican  people.-' 

The  speeches  of  which  the  forego 
ing  are  but  a  part  of  their  introduc 
tion,  expressive  of  gratitude  and  fidelity,  a 
conception  of  the  needs  of  the  hour,  deliv 
ered  with  an  eloquence  that  charmed, 
elicited  hearty  response,  the  Academy 
echoing  and  re-echoing  with  the  plaudits 
of  the  vast  assembly.  At  each  National 
Convention  of  the  Republican  party  repre 
sentatives  of  the  race  have  shown  not 
alone  oratorical  power,  but  an  intelligent 
grasp  of  the  political  situation.  At  this 
period  of  General  Grant's  nomination,  the 


164  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

nation's  heart  still  jubilant  with  the  suc 
cess  of  the  Federal  arms;  its  conscience 
awakened  by  the  dread  penalty  paid  by 
contributions  from  every  loyal  hearthstone 
for  the  subjugation  of  slavery,  was  now 
eager  and  active  in  providing  that  the  Ne 
gro  who  had  been  faithful  in  peace  and 
heroic  in  war,  should  enjoy  the  rights  of  an 
American  citizen.  It  was  history  repeating 
itself,  for  in  England's  history  we  read 
that  it  was  Henry  at  Ajincourt  who  said: 
"Who  this  day  sheds  his  blood  with  me  to 
day  shall  be  my  brother;  were  he  ne'er  so 
vile,  today  shall  gentle  his  condition.'7  For 
the  Civil  War,  as  it  matured,  became  no 
ordinary  case  of  political  contention;  the 
soul  of  its  suppression  sprang  from  the 
most  sacred  impulses  in  the  mind  of  man. 
It  was  response  to  the  self-retort  of  Cain 
that  came  echoing  down  the  ages,  "Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper?"  Answer  came  in 
shot  and  shell. 

But  as  time  receded  from  these  historic 
epochs,  engrossed  more  and  more  in  na 
tional  development,  mercantile  aspira 
tions,  internal  improvements,  rivalry  of 
parties,  self-aggrandizement — in  short,  all 
the  agencies  and  factors  inseparable  from 
human  nature  that  influence  on  material 
lines,  have  effaced  much  of  the  general  so 
licitude  that  formerly  existed.  This  deca 
dence  of  purpose  is  not  unnatural ;  a  ward 
ship  is  a  duty,  and  should  not  be  a  con 
tinuous  necessity,  its  greatest  blessing  a 
consciousness  that  its  ideals  and  purposes 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  165 

have  been  assimilated  by  its  wards,  and 
lifted  higher  in  humanity's  scale.  Too 
much  dependence  is  as  hurtful  as  entire 
neglect.  The  more  persistent  the  call  for 
the  forces  within  the  greater  the  response 
from  the  assistants  without.  The  lethargy 
or  neglect  to  give  the  Negro  protection  in 
the  exercise  of  his  constitutional  rights  is 
developing  a  spirit  of  self-help  and  inten 
sity  of  purpose,  to  find  and  adopt  a  course 
and  measures  remedial  that  may  be  prac 
tical  and  efficient;  to  ignore  the  sentimen 
tality  of  politics  and  subordinate  them  to 
conditions  irrespective  of  party.  He  has 
found  that  "the  mills  of  the  gods  grind 
slowly;"  that  the  political  lever  needs  for 
its  fulcrum  a  foundation  as  solidly  mate 
rial  as  equitably  sentimental. 

Proclaim  brotherhood,  justice,  and  equal 
rights  ever  so  much,  men  will  nod 
acquiescence  with  a  mental  reserva 
tion  of  "but,"  significant  of  "Who 
are  you?  What  can  you  do,  or  what 
have  you  done?"  It  is  your  current  life's 
answer  to  these  interrogatives  that  most 
interest  people  in  this  material  world  in 
your  behalf.  Only  as  we  increase  in  com 
mercial  pursuits,  ownership  of  property, 
and  the  higher  elements  of  production 
through  skilled  labor  will  our  political  bar 
ometer  rise.  Upon  these  we  should  anchor 
our  hopes,  assured  that  higher  education, 
with  its  "classic  graces,  will  follow  in  their 
proper  places." 

Of  the  latter  a  humorous  writer,  in 
answer  to  the  question  from  the  pres- 


166  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

ident  of  an  Eastern  college,  "Is  there 
any  good  reason  why  our  sons  should  not 
study  the  dead  languages?"  said:  "While 
our  sons  are  not  on  speaking  terms  with 
many  live  languages,  it  ill  becomes  them 
to  go  fooling  around  the  dead  and  dying. 
I  do  not  think  it  necessary  that  our  sons 
should  study  these  defunct  tongues.  A  lan 
guage  that  did  not  have  strength  enough 
to  pull  through  and  crawled  off  some 
where  and  died,  doesn't  seem  worth  study 
ing.  1  will  go  further,  and  say  I  do  not 
see  why  our  sons  should  spend  valuable 
time  over  invalid  languages  that  aren't 
feeling  very  well.  Let  us  not,  professor, 
either  one  of  us,  send  our  sons  into  the 
hospital  to  lug  out  languages  on  a 
stretcher  just  to  study  them.  No;  let  us 
bring  up  our  sons  to  shun  all  diseased  and 
disabled  languages,  even  if  it  can't  be 
proved  that  a  language  comes  under  either 
of  those  heads;  if  it  lias  been  missing  since 
the  last  engagement,  it  is  just  as  well  not 
to  have  our  sons  chasing  around  after  it 
with  a  detective,  trying  to  catch  and  pore 
over  it. 

You  may  look  at  it  differently,  pro 
fessor.  Our  paths  in  the  great  realm  of 
education  of  youth  may  lie  far  apart;  but  it 
is  my  heartfelt  wish  that  I  may  never  live 
to  see  a  son  of  mine  ride  right  past  healthy 
athletic  languages  and  then  stand  up  in 
the  stirrups  and  begin  to  whoop  and  try 
to  lariat  some  poor  old  language  go 
ing  around  on  a  crutch,  carrying  half 


SHADOW  AND   LUJHT.  167 

of  its  alphabet  in  a  sling.  If  two- 
thirds  of  the  words  of  a  language  are  flat 
on  their  back,  taking  quinine,  trying  to 
get  up  an  appetite,  let  ns  teach  our  sous 
that  they  cannot  hope  to  derive  benefit 
from  its  study." 

But  Lord  Kosebery,  ex-Premier  of  Eng 
land,  in  a  late  address  before  the  Univer 
sity  of  ( Jlasgow  on  "Questions  of  Empire,'1 
in  the  following,  on  action  and  learning, 
takes  a.  serious  view: 

"There  was  a  time,  long  years  ago,  when 
the  spheres  of  action  and  learning  were 
separate  and  distinct;  Avhen  laymen  dealt 
hard  blows  and  left  letters  to  the  priest 
hood.  That  was  to  some  extent  the  case 
when  our  oldest  universities  were  founded. 
But  the  separation  daily  narrows.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  true  university  of  our 
days  is  a  collection  of  books.  What  if  a 
future  pholosopher  shall  say  that  the  best 
university  is  a  workshop?  And  yet  the 
latter  definition  bids  fair  to  be  the  sounder 
of  the  two.  The  training  of  our  schools  and 
colleges  must  daily  become  more  and  more 
the  training  for  action,  for  practical  pur 
pose.  The  question  will  be  asked  of  the 
product  of  our  educational  system:  Here  is 
a  young  fellow  of  twenty;  he  has  passed 
the  best  years  of  acquisition  and  impres 
sion;  he  has  cost  so  much;  what  is  his 
value?  For  what,  in  all  the  manifold  ac 
tivities  of  the  world,  is  he  fit?  And  if  the 
answer  be  not  satisfactory,  if  the  product 
be  only  a  sort  of  learned  mummy,  the  sys- 


168  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

tern  will  be  condemned.  Are  there  not 
thousands  of  lads  today  plodding  away  at 
the  ancient  classics,  and  who,  at  the  first 
possible  moment,  will  cast  them  into  space, 
never  to  reopen  them?  Think  of  the  wast 
ed  time  that  that  implies;  not  all  wasted, 
perhaps,  for  something  may  be  gained  in 
power  of  application;  but  entirely  wasted 
so  far  as  available  knowledge  is  con 
cerned.'' 

And  in  keeping  with  this  line  of  thought, 
the  "Washington  Post,"  of  Washington, 
D.  C.,  in  a  recent  issue,  makes  the  follow 
ing  pertinent  and  truthful  mention: 

"Almost  without  exception,  the  colleges 
and  universities  are  beginning  another 
year  with  unusually  large  classes.  Many 
of  these  institutions  report  the  largest 
number  of  matriculates  in  their  history. 
The  aggregate  attendance  is  unquestion 
ably  greater  by  thousands  than  that  of 
any  previous  year.  This  is  due  in  part  to 
the  prevalence  of  business  prosperity  and 
in  part  to  the  steadily  increasing  appro 
bation  of  higher  education  for  women, 
while  the  natural  increase  of  population 
is  also  something  of  a  factor.  The  'Clove- 
land  Leader,'  speaking  of  the  reports  of 
large  classes  of  freshmen  all  over  the  coun 
try,  says: 

"  That  appears  to  be  the  best  and  most 
conclusive  reply  which  the  American  peo 
ple  can  make  to  those  gentlemen  of  wealth 
and  prominence  who,  like  Mr.  Schwab,  of 
the  Steel  Trust,  discourage  higher  oduca- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  169 

tioii  as  preparation  for  the  life  of  the  busi 
ness  world.  It  is  the  solidest  kind  of 
evidence  that  the  old  love  of  knowledge 
for  its  own  sake  and  the  old  faith  in  the 
beneficial  effects  of  college  training  upon 
the  youth  of  a  country  having  such  a  gov 
ernment  and  social  organization  as  this 
Eepublic  has  developed  remain  as  strong 
as  ever.1 7 

To  which  the  Post  replies  : 

"That  is  somewhat  hasty  and  a  prob 
ably  erroneous  conclusion.  .  The  "higher 
education'7  which  Mr.  Schwab  discourages, 
the  old-time  classical  course,  has  not 
grown  in  popular  favor.  The  reverse  is 
true.  The  demand  for  a  more  practical 
education  in  this  utilitarian  age  has  com 
pelled  the  colleges  and  universities  to 
make  radical  changes  in  their  curriculum. 
The  number  of  students  who  elect  to  take 
the  old-time  course  is  smaller  in  propor 
tion  to  the  population  and  wealth  of  this 
country  than  it  ever  was.  Science,  both 
pure  and  applied,  takes  a  far  more  promi 
nent  place  in  collegiate  studies  than  it  for 
merly  occupied.  Many  of  the  leading 
institutions  of  learning  have  introduced  a 
commercial  department.  Everywhere  the 
practical,  the  business  idea  is  becoming 
dominant. 

"While  no  intelligent  man  questions  the 
value  of  classical  studies  or  disputes  the 
proposition  that  a  knowledge  of  the  class 
ics  is  indispensable  to  a  thorough  under 
standing  of  our  own  language,  the  area 
of  practical  study  has  become  so  vast, 


170  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

by  reason  of  new  discoveries  in  science  and 
the  arts,  that  a  choice  between  the  two  is 
compulsory  to  young  persons  Avho  have 
their  own  fortunes  to  make.  The  old-time 
course  of  mathematics  and  classics  fur 
nishes  splendid  mental  discipline,  with 
much  knowledge  that  may  or  may  not  put 
its  possessor  on  the  road  to  success  in 
business.  But  the  time  required  for  that 
course,  if  followed  by  a  three  or  four  years' 
term  of  practical  study,  sets  a  young  man 
so  far  along  in  life  that  he  has  a  hopeless 
race  with  younger  men  who  dispensed  with 
the  classical  and  went  in  zealously  for  the 
practical. 

"The  change  from  the  old  to  the  new 
lines  of  education  is  even  more  marked 
in  the  common  schools  than  in  the  col 
leges  and  universities.  The  practical  be 
gins  in  the  free  kindergarten  and  runs  with 
more  or  less  directness  through  all  the 
grades.  Millions  are  expended  upon  in 
dustrial  training.  The  business  high 
schools  are  a  great  feature  of  the  free 
school  system.  All  this  is  comparatively 
new.  It  has  come  because  of  the  necessi 
ties  of  an  industrial  age. 

"  'Knowledge  for  its  own  sake'  is  becom 
ing  more  and  more  a  luxury,  in  which  the 
sons  mid  daughters  of  the  rich  indulge, 
while  the  representatives  of  families  that 
are  merely  well  to  do  feel  that  they  must 
acquire  knowledge  for  practical  uses.  And 
this  tendency  is  likely  to  continue,  for,  as 
we  have  said,  the  field  of  the  practical  is 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  171 

expanding.  Take,  for  example,  elecricity 
and  its  uses.  All  that  was  known  of  this 
subject  in  the  time  of  our  grandfathers 
could  be  learned  in  a  few  days  or  weeks. 
To  be  an  up-to-date  electrical  scientist  and 
practical  electrician  in  1901  means  that 
years  have  been  devoted  to  hard  work." 

The  crude  notion  held  by  some,  that  in 
far-off  climes,  to  the  American  Negro  un 
known,  who,  with  small  capital  and  limited 
•  education;  with  an  inherited  mental  iner 
tia  that  is  being  dispelled  and  can  only  be 
eradicated  by  contact  with  superior  en 
vironment,  that  there  awaits  him  peace, 
plenty,  and  equality,  is  an  ignus  fatuus 
the  most  delusive.  Peace  is  the  exhaustion 
of  strife,  and  is  only  secure  in  her  triumphs 
in  being  in  instant  readiness  for  war; 
equality  a  myth,  and  plenty  the  accumula 
tion  of  weary  toil. 

With  travel  somewhat  extensive  and 
diversified;  residence  in  tropical  lati 
tudes  of  Negro  origin,  I  have  a  de 
rided  conviction,  despite  the  crucial  test 
to  which  he  has  been  subjected  in  the  past 
and  the  present  disadvantages  under  which 
he  labors,  nowhere  is  the  promise  along  all 
the  lines  of  opportunity  brighter  for  the 
American  Negro  than  here  in  the  land  of 
his  nativit}T.  For  he  needs  the  inspiriting 
dash,  push,  and  invincible  determination 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  (having  sufficient  of  his 
deviltry)  to  make  him  a  factor  acknowl 
edged  and  respected.  But  the  fruit  of  ad 
vantage  will  not  drop  as  ripe  fruit  from 


172  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

the  tree;  it  can  be  gotten  only  by  watch 
ful,  patient  tillage,  and  frugal  garnering. 
Ignorance  and  wastefulness  among  the  in 
dustrious  but  uneducated  poor  render 
them  incapable  to  cope  with  the  shrewd 
and  unprincipled.  The  rivalry  to  excel  in 
outward  appearance  and  social  amenities 
beyond  the  usual  moderate  means  on  the 
part  of  the  educated  is  a  drawback  to  any 
people,  but  one  disastrous  to  the  Negro 
in  his  march  through  arduous  toil  and  re 
stricted  conditions  to  financial  independ 
ence. 


KEY.   JOSEPH  A.   BOOKER, 

President  of  Arkansas  Baptist  College,  and  Editor  of  the  "Vanguard." 

Born  1S59.  at  Portland,  Arkansas— Studied  at  Branch  Normal  College— Graduated 

At  Roger  Williams'   University,   Tennessee,  Mainly  by  His  Efforts  this 

College  Only  on  Paper  in  1887,  has  now  Grounds  and  Buildings 

Worth  over  $50,000  and  Several  Hundred  Students. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  173 


CHAPTER  XV. 

At  the  Arkansas  State  election  in  187(v 
I  was  selected  as  Presidential  elector,  re 
ceiving  the  highest  vote  on  the  Republican 
ticket.  The  national  election  of  that  year 
was  followed  by  the  memorable  canvass  of 
the  contested  vote  for  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes,  which  Avas  ultimately  settled  by  a 
commission  appointed  under  the  Compro 
mise  Bill,  which  was  passed  by  Congress  in 
January,  1877,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and 
South  Carolina  declaring  for  Hayes.  That 
the  compromise  was  the  result  of  an  agree 
ment  that  the  United  States  troops  should 
by  withdrawn  from  Southern  soil  cannot 
be  doubted,  and  for  so  doing  he  was  bit 
terly  criticised  and  denounced  by  many  of 
his  party,  resulting,  as  it  did,  in  the  trans 
fer  of  those  States  in  the  South  from  Re 
publican,  by  continuous  and  unblushing 
disfranchisement,  to  Democratic  rule. 

President  Hayes,  not  unlike  many  of  his 
toric  fame,  may  have  been  "born  before  his 
time;"  that  his  action  in  removing  U.  S. 
troops  was  immature,  a  continuation  and 
increase  of  intimidation  and  violence 
abundantly  proved.  At  what  period  of 
their  remaining  on  Southern  soil  would 
have  been  a  fitting  time  for  removal,  is  an 


SHADOW   AM)    LKiHT. 

enigma  hard  to  elucidate.  Their  retention 
ultimately  rested  with  the  sentiment  and 
judgment  of  the  nation.  In  the  South  the 
menace  of  their  presence  was  galling  and 
increasing  in  intensity.  The  North  was 
daily  growing  averse  to  the  bivouac  of 
troops  over  a  people  who  swore  that  they 
were  on  terms  of  "peace  with  all  the  world 
and  the  rest  of  mankind."  Would  compul 
sion  soften  animosity?  J I  ayes  was  un 
doubtedly  honest  and  sincere,  but  not  of 
that  class  of  epoch-making  men  who  anchor 
on  the  riglit,  await  and  buffet  the  advanc 
ing  storm.  Conciliation  coved  as  gently 
as  loving  dove  his  mate,  while  within  easy 
reach  glistened  the  jewel  "President7-  of  a 
fraternized  He-public. 

There  are  possibly  men  who  would 
.have  spurned  the  enchantress.  Hut  an 
array  of  figures  and  ability  to  enu 
merate  would  not  be  sorely  taxed  in 
finding  the  number.  I  was  among  those 
.at  that  period  who  saw  the  inutility  of 
depending  on  physical  force  to  extract  jus 
tice  and  lawful  methods  from  an  unwill 
ing  constituency;  that  the  reaction  from  a 
forced  compulsion  in  the  moral  world  was 
as  evident  and  unfailing  under  the  condi 
tions  as  from  compression  in  the  physical. 
I  was  hopeful  of  good  results,  and  so  ex 
pressed  myself  in  an  interview  with  the 
President.  He  replied  that  he  was  "sin 
cere  in  his  policy,  and  should  adhere  to  it 
unless  it  seemed  impracticable  that  the 
policy  of  force  and  musket  had  been  tried 


PROP.  I.  G.  ISH. 

Principal  of  High   School,   Little   Rock,    Arkansas. 
An  Erudite  Scholar  and  Zealous  Tutor. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  175 

in  the  South  and  had  failed  arid  public 
sentiment  now  demanded  a  change/'  \Ve 
had  and  have  the  change,  and  it  would 
have  been  a  bright  jewel  in  the  autonomy 
of  many  of  the  Southern  States  had  it  been 
more  liberal  and  righteous. 

History,  as  a  record  of  the  lower  to  a 
higher  status  of  civilization  increases  in 
intensity  and  value  as  it  records  superior 
conditions,  and  the  degree  of  unrest  and 
earnestness  of  appeal  for  the  abrogation  of 
oppression  is  indicative  of  the  appreciation 
and  fitness  for  the  rights  of  citizenship. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  as  it  be 
came  men  dowered  with  the  proud  title 
of  American  Citizen,  the  Negro  has  not 
been  remiss  in  stating  his  grievances  and 
appealing  for  justice.  To  have  done  less 
would  have  banished  sympathy  and  invited 
contempt.  In  Arkansas  and  sonie  other 
Southern  States  there  is  a  growing  de 
mand  for  the  forms  of  law  and  the  main 
tenance  of  order,  and,  while  hot.  attaining 
the  zenith  of  accomplishment,  it  will  be 
observable  when  contrasted  with  the  law 
lessness  depicted  in  the  following  resolu 
tions  of  a  convention  of  colored  men  held 
in  Little  Rock  August  29,  1883.  They  con 
tain  views  and  convictions  I  there  pre 
sented,  the  equity  of  which  'tis  fondly 
hoped  have  not  been  lost  by  lapse  of  time: 

"Be  it  resolved,  That  this  convention  of 
colored  men  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  have 
still  to  complain  that  violence  and  injus 
tice  to  their  race  still  exists  to  an  alarm- 


176  SHADOW  A X D  L IGHT. 

ing  extent.  In  most  cases  the  perpetrators 
go'unwhipped  of  justice.  That  when  they 
are  arraigned  the  law  is  administered  with 
such  laxity  and  partiality  that  the  escape 
of  the  criminal  is  both  easy  and  possible. 
In  no  instance  is  the  penalty  of  the  law  en 
forced  against  a  white  man  for  the  murder 
of  a  Negro,  however  palpable  the  case  may 
be;  whilst  in  most  instances  the  bare  ac 
cusation  of  a  Negro  committing  a  homi 
cide  upon  a  white  man  is  sufficient  for  law, 
w^ith  all  its  forms,  to  be  ruthlessly  set  aside 
and  the  doctrine  of  lynch,  swift  and  cer 
tain  to  be  enforced. 

Case  after  case  is  chronicled  by  the 
press  of  Negroes  hung  by  infuriated 
mobs  without  trial  to  determine  their 
guilt  or  innocence.  The  farcical  pro 
ceedings  at  law  in  their  inefficiency  of 
prosecution,  the  selection  and  manipula 
tion  of  jurors,  and  the  character  of  public 
sentiment  have  had  painful  illustration  in 
several  cases,  and  but  recently  of  Johnson, 
the  colored  man  murdered  in  this,  the  capi 
tal  county  of  the  State.  The  homicide  of 
this  man,  a  servant  at  a  picnic,  of  a  Chris- 
tion  society  of  white  people,  and  in  their 
presence,  without  provocation,  wras  uni 
versally  admitted.  Notwithstanding,  a 
jury  of  twelve  men,  with  almost  indecent 
haste,  finds  the  murderer  not  guilty.  A 
verdict  fit  to  shock  the  sense  of  every 
friend  of  right  and  justice.  Robinson,  a 
white  man,  for  killing  a  colored  man  be 
cause  his  victim  asked  for  the  return  of 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  177 

money  loaned,  received  but  two  years  in 
the  penitentiary.  Burril  Liudsey,  a  col 
ored  farmer,  who  had  homesteaded  land 
in  Van  Buren  County  and  had  commenced 
cultivation,  was  waited  upon  and  told  he 
must  leave;  that  they  would  have  no  "nig 
gers"  in  the  settlement.  They  came  back 
at  midnight  and  broke  down  his  door.  One 
of  the  mob,  lying-  dead  on  the  threshold 
was  Burril  Lindsey's  response.  The  press 
of  our  city — to  their  honor  be  it  noted — 
said  lie  did  the  proper  thing.  Respectable 
men  in  the  neighborhood  who  knew  Lind- 
sey  said  the  same.  But  yet,  after  being 
liarrassed  by  threats  and  legal  persecution 
for  months,  a  jury  found  him  guilty  of  an 
assault  with  intent  to  kill,  and  six  years  in 
the  penitentiary  at  hard  labor  is  the  pen 
alty  for  defending  his  home. 

Homicide  has  no  local  habitation;  it  is 
the  accident  of  every  community,  in  every 
nation,  and  the  justice  and  impartiality 
with  which  the  law  is  administered  is  the 
measure  of  their  humanity  and  civiliza 
tion.  But  here  we  have  the  spectacle  of 
the  press,  pulpit,  and  rostrum  of  the  State, 
with  exceptions  scarcely  to  be  noted,  either 
entirely  dumb  or  a  mere  passing  allusion, 
more  often  in  commendation  than  censure. 
We  are  positive  in  our  confidence  that 
those,  and  only  those  who  expose  and  de 
nounce  and  lay  bare  this  conduct,  and 
thereby  create  a  sentiment  that  will  lessen 
this  evil,  are  the  only  true  friends  to  the 
State's  moral  as  well  as  its  material  prog 

(12) 


178  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

ress.  That  the  attempt  to  deny  and  evade 
responsibility  does  not  meet  the  issue  in 
the  minds  of  thoughtful  men,  who  believe 
that  no  life  is  safe  where  the  humblest  is 
unprotected. 

"We  insist  that  value  of  the  colored 
brother  as  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  increas 
ing  thrift  and  economy  conceded  in  secur 
ing  homes  and  taxable  property,  their  fa 
vorable  comparison  (by  fair  judgment) 
with  any  other  classes  as  to  their  moral 
and  law-abiding  character,  should  at  least 
merit  justice  in  the  courts,  and  we  ask  for 
him  consideration  and  fair  settlement  for 
labor.  For  where  could  superiority  and 
nobility  of  character  be  better  displayed 
than  by  generous  treatment  to  the  former 
bondsmen.  That  the  better  element  of  the 
Democratic  party  do  not  favor  this  lawless 
ness  wo  are  continually  assured.  But  the 
ugly  fact  stands  out  in  bold  relief  that  they 
are  unable  or  unwilling,  with  forces  of 
wealth  and  intelligence,  to  create  a  health 
ier  sentiment.  To  them,  and  just  men  ev 
erywhere,  we  appeal  to  assist  in  bringing 
the  moral  power  of  denunciation  against 
this  great  wrong,  that  impartial  justice 
shall  be  the  law  for  every  citizen  of  thf 
Commonwealth;  and  that  the  president 
and  secretary  be  empowered  to  sign  a  pe 
tition  in  behalf  and  as  the  earnest  request 
of  this  convention  for  presentation  to  his 
Excellency  the  Governor,  asking  executive 
clemency  in  the  pardon  of  Burril  Lindsey, 
now  incarcerated  in  the  penitentiary,  un 
der  a  sentence  of  six  years." 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  179 

The  Governor  was  graciously  pleased  to 
pardon  him,  but  for  personal  safety  he  was 
compelled  to  abandon  his  homestead  and 
leave  the  State. 

For  some  time  a  general  unrest  among 
the  colored  people  on  account  of  violence 
had  permeated  the  South,  and  thousands 
of  the  most  substantial  planters  had  al 
ready  settled  in  Kansas,  Indiana,  and 
other  Western  States  to  enjoy  legal  pro 
tection  hitherto  denied  them.  Upon  the 
question  of  Negro  emigration  the  white 
South  were  divided.  The  planters  and 
leading  politicians  were  ~  adverse.  The 
planter  for  the  reason  that  he  could  not 
supplant  him  by  more  efficient  and  tract 
able  labor;  the  politician  for  fear  of  reduc 
ing  Congressional  representation,  each  re 
gardless  of  the  conditions  creating  his  dis 
content.  A  minority  respectable  in  num 
bers  and  prominent  for  standing,  approved 
of  his  removal,  alleging  that  the  move 
ment  would  be  mutually  beneficial,  that 
it  would  induce  white  immigration,  re 
lieve  the  congested  overproduction  of  the 
staples  of  the  Southern  States,  introduce  a 
higher  class  of  industries,  and  simplify  the 
so-called  problem  by  removing  the  bugbear 
of  Negro  domination  by  means  unobjec 
tionable. 

Of  this  class  of  opinion  the  "Nashville 
American,'7  of  the  State  of  Tennessee, 
was  a  fair  exponent.  In  its  issue 
of  May  9,  1879,  it  had  this  to  say:  "We 
rather  rejoiced  at  a  movement  which  will 


180  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

bring  about  a  better  understanding  and 
teach  both  races  a  lesson  they  ought  to 
learn.  To  the  Negro  it  is  simply  a  ques 
tion  as  to  whether  he  will  be  better  off 
there  or  here.  If  there,  he  ought  to  go;  if 
here,  he  ought  to  stay;  and  this  simple 
economic  proposition  will  settle  it." 

Tliis,  the  sentiment  of  the  best  Southern 
thought,  encountered  an  adverse  which, 
while  unwilling  to  grant  the  Negro  the 
right  of  an  American  citizen,  maltreated 
and  imprisoned  immigrant  agents;  desir 
ing  his  retention  in  a  specious  of  serfdom. 
Such  being  the  conditions  existing  at  the 
time  of  the  meeting  of  the  Nashville  Con 
ference  in  1879,  induced  it  by  resolution  to 
request  Senator  Windom,  Chairman  of  the 
National  Executive  Committee,  to  appoint 
a  committee  to  visit  the  Western  States 
to  ascertain  what  inducement  they  offered 
for  immigration. 

In  pursuance  whereof  I  received  the  fol 
lowing,  containing  words  of  wisdom  war 
ranting  their  insertion  here: 

"United  States  Senate, 
"Washington,  *>•  C.,  Jan.  10, 1879. 
"My  Dear  Sir:    In  compliance  with  the 
resolution  of  the  Nashville  Convention  re 
questing  me,  as  Chairman  of  the  National 
Executive  Committee,  to  appoint  a  commit 
tee  of  three  to  visit  Western  States  and 
Territories  and  report,  not  later  than  the 
1st  of  November,  upon  the  health,  climate,, 
and  productions  of  said  States  and  Terri- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  181 

lories,  1  have  the  honor  to  designate  you 
as  one  of  the  number  of  said  committee. 
In  doing  so  I  may  add  that  the 
duty  involves  great  labor  and  respon 
sibility  on  your  part  and  requires 
the  exercise  .  of  that  sound  discre 
tion  for  which  you  are  noted  among 
your  friends.  The  exodus  of  the  colored 
people  involves  the  greatest  consequences 
to  themselves  and  should  only  be  under 
taken  after  the  most  careful  inquiry  and 
preparation.  If  judiciously  guided  and 
regulated,  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that 
it  will  result  in  great  good.  If  not  so 
regulated,  it  may  cause  incalculable  suf 
fering  to  the  colored  race,  and  work  great 
injury  to  the  industrial  interest  of  the 
South.  If  the  Negro  can  have  fair  treat 
ment  as  a  citizen  and  a  man  in  his  present 
home,  he  will  probably  not  care  to  remove. 
If  he  cannot  obtain  such  treatment  there, 
ir  is  his  right  and  duty  to  secure  it  by  every 
means  in  his  power,  and  no  one  has  the 
right  to  say  he  may  not  change  his  resi 
dence  at  his  own  will  and  pleasure. 

"Your  proposed  inquiry  will  contribute 
much  to  inform  and  control  the  action  of 
those  who  may  desire  to  emigrate  and  your 
discretion  gives  the  best  assurance  that  no 
rash  action  will  be  advisable.  I  regret  the 
committee  has  no  funds  at  command  to 
pay  your  necessary  traveling  expenses. 

"Hon  James  P.  Kapler,  Member  of  Con 
gress,  of  Montgomery,  Alabama,  I  have 
also  designated  as  a  member  of  said  com- 


182  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

mittee,  but  I  am  not  sufficiently  advised  to 
name  the  third  member. 

"Very  respectfully  yours, 
(Signed.)  "WM.  WINDOM, 

"Chairman. 
"Mifflin  W.  Gibbs,  Little  Kock,  Ark." 

It  often  happens  that  distance  lends  en 
chantment  to  the  view;  that  while  contend 
ing  with  hardship,  disappointment,  and 
earnest  toil,  we  are  apt  to  imagine  that  at 
some  far  locality,  amid  new  surroundings, 
there  abides  a  reign  of  contentment  and 
happiness,  where  labor  has  its  highest  re 
wards  and  where  there  is  a  minimum  of 
those  trials  inseparable  from  human  exist 
ence.  The  gratification  of  this  migratory 
impulse  has  in  many  instances  proved  dis 
astrous,  the  yielding  to  which  should  be 
only  indulged  after  every  possible  effort 
has  been  made  to  remove  local  obstacles 
by  uprightness,  softening  animosities,  and 
by  industry  accumulate  wealth.  But  emi 
grants  have  been  illustrious  as  nation 
builders,  their  indomitable  spirit  blessing 
mankind  and  leaving  impress  on  the  scroll 
of  time.  The  bump  on  the  head  of  the  Ne 
gro  that  the  phrenologists  call  "inhabitive- 
ness"  is  very  prominent;  he  is  not  nat 
urally  migratory — "content  to  bear  the  ills 
he  has,  than  fly  to  those  he  knows  not  of." 
Hence  there  appeared  reason,  if  not  entire 
"method  in  his  madness." 

In  all  movements  of  like  character  there 
are  always  conflicting  rumors  and  re- 


HON.  JOHN   P.  GHKK.V 
United  States  Stamp  Agent. 

Educated  at  Cleveland,  Ohio— A  Leading  Member  of  the  Bar— Twice  Elected  to 
the  Senate  of  the  Ohio  Legislature. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  183 

ports  as  to  success  or  failure  of  the 
benefit  or  loss  of  the  venture,  and 
this  was  no  exception.  Colored  im 
migrants  to  the  number  of  10.000  had 
left  the  South  during  a  brief  period, 
and  the  wildest  rumors  circulated  as  to 
reception  and  success  of  these  forerunners, 
and,  as  bad  news  is  ever  alert,  much  was 
heard  that  was  discouraging  and  demand 
ed  investigation;  hence  the  action  of  the 
Nashville  Conference  referred  to.  In  pur 
suance  of  our  appointment,  J.  IV  Rapier 
and  myself,  in  August,  1879,  w^ent  to  To- 
peka,  Kan.,  and  from  there,  chiefly  by 
wagon  travel,  visited  different  colonies  of 
the  immigrants.  Kansas  had  received 
seven  or  eight  thousand.  At  Topeka  Ave 
found  nearly  100  at  immigrant  camp  re 
ceiving  rations,  some  sick,  others  looking 
for  work ;  the  balance  had  settled  on  lands 
or  had  found  work  as  laborers.  At  Dun- 
lop  we  found  a  colony  of  300  families  set 
tled  upon  20,000  acres  of  land.  In  Wabun- 
see  County  230  families  had  settled  on 
their  land,  while  in  Lawrence  and  other 
counties  hundreds  had  found  work.  Me 
chanics  receiving  |2  to  $2.25  per  day  and 
farm  hands  f  13  to  $15  per  month  and 
board.  We  found  w^omen  in  great  demand 
for  house  servants  from  $6  to  $8  per  month. 
In  our  interviews  with  the  colonists  wre 
found  the  list  and  nature  of  their  griev 
ances  w^ere  the  same  as  have  impelled  men 
in  all  ages  to  endeavor  to  better  their  con 
dition,  and  should  five  or  ten  thousand,  for 


184  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

a  period,  annually  leave  the  South  and  set 
tle  in  Western  States  and  Territories,  the 
effect  would  be  mutually  beneficial  to 
whites  and  blacks  alike.  In  Emporia  we 
found  the  colony  in  a  very  prosperous 
state.  Out  of  120  families  one-half  owned 
their  houses  and  land  on  which  they  lived. 
We  remained  twenty  days  in  Kansas  and 
had  not  opportunity  to  visit  Indiana  and 
other  States  that  had  received  immigrants. 
But  the  information  we  received,  with  few 
exceptions,  was  similar  to  that  of  those 
visited.  There  had  been  suffering  and  des 
titution  in  some  localities  during  the  past 
winter;  that  was  to  be  expected,  as  many 
had  come  wholly  unprepared  and  without 
that  push  and  ready  adaptation  to  the 
status  of  a  new  country. 

We  made  an  extended  report  to  Sena 
tor  Wiiidom,  which  contained  data  as  to 
the   success   and  prosperity  of  the  many 
and  advice  to  the  moneyless  to  avoid  the 
suffering  which  might  lie  in  wait. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  185 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

In  1877  I  was  appointed  by  the  Presi 
dent  Register  of  the  United  States  Land 
Office  for  the  Little  Rock  District  of  Arkan 
sas.  The  State  was  blessed  with  a  valuable 
patrimony,  by  having  at  the  time  of  its  ad 
mission  into  the  Union  an  extensive  area 
of  agricultural,  besides  thousands  of  acres 
of  swamp,  school  and  other  lands,  under 
State  control  and  disposition.  The  United 
States  Government  had  reserved  many  mil 
lions  of  acres,  which  under  its  homestead 
law  became  available  for  applicants  for  40, 
80,  or  160  acres.  No  economy  of  the  Gov 
ernment  has  been  more  fruitful  in  substan 
tial  blessing  upon  the  industrious  poor 
than  throwing  open  these  lands  for  en 
trance  and  ownership  of  homes  by  the  pay 
ment  of  a  nominal  fee  for  recording  and 
proof  of  actual  settlement  thereon. 

The  renowned  and  lamented  Robert  J. 
Ingersoll,  once,  while  extolling  the  benig 
nity  and  patriotic  effect  of  the  homestead 
law,  said:  "Who  do  you  suppose  would  take 
up  arms  to  defend  a  boarding  house?"  The 
opportunity  to  enjoy  the  ownership  of  a 
home  strongly  appeals,  not  alone  to  our  av 
arice,  but  to  the  instincts  of  our  nature.  For 


1;86  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

here  is  located  the  citadel  of  our  hopes  and 
fears,  our  joys  and  griefs;  here  congregated 
are  ties  the  most  sacred,  and  a  love  de 
voted.  It  is  the  ever-burning  light,  the 
steady  heat-giving  impulse,  and  inspiration 
to  deeds  of  domestic  utility  or  of  noble  dar 
ing.  For  its  protection  the  heart  leaps  and 
the  arm  strikes.  Hence,  for  domestic  felic 
ity,  or  national  autonomy,  the  home  is  ah 
experience,  and  for  liberty  a  conservator. 
Having  these  convictions  during  my  12 
years'  service  in  the  Laud  Office  as  Regis 
ter  and  afterwards  as  Receiver  of  Public 
Moneys,  I  was  earnest  in  my  endeavor  to 
have  the  poor  of  all  classes  enter  these 
lands.  On  the  political  stump  at  every 
election,  while  having  as  my  mission  the 
political  ascendancy  of  my  party,  I  always 
felt  it  a  duty  to  dwell  impressively  upon 
that  theme.  Upon  asking  all  those  living 
on  their  own  lands  to  hold  up  their  hands, 
the  gleam  of  pride  on  the  countenances  of 
many  of  my  colored  auditors  as,  standing 
tip-toe,  with  hands  at  arms7  length,  was 
shared  by  me,  and  a  stimulus  to  the  luke 
warm,  for  on  subsequent  visits  I  would  find 
an  increase  of  holdings. 

For  the  Negro  ownership  of  laud  and 
home  is  not  only  an  important  factor,  in 
his  domestic  life,  for  as  taxpayer,  there  is 
a  mutuality  of  interest  between  himself 
and  other  members  of  the  body  politic,  bus 
iness  and  trade  seek  him,  it  impels  rever 
ence  for  the  law,. and  protection  of  the  pub 
lic  peace.  His  own  liability  to  outrage  be- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  187 

comes  small.  His  character  for  credit  in 
creases  in  the  ratio  of  his  holdings,  and 
while  manhood  suffrage  is  the  professed 
but  often  disavowed  legacy  for  all  born  be 
neath  the  flag,  his  rights  of  citizenship  are 
more  often  accorded. 

While  in  the  Land  Service  of  the  United 
States  there  were  many  examples  of  heroic 
conduct  by  colored  settlers  worthy  of  the 
highest  praise.  Many  of  them,  emigrants 
from  other  Southern  States,  seeking  better 
conditions,  and  arriving  with  barely  suf 
ficient  to  pay  entrance  fee,  and  nothing  to 
sustain  them  in  their  fight  with  nature  to 
clear  their  heavily-wooded  land  and  fit  it 
for  cultivation.  Hiring  to  others  for  brief 
spells,  as  necessity  compelled  them,  to  ob 
tain  small  stocks  of  food  and  tools,  five 
years  after  entrance,  when  they  proved  up 
their  holdings  and  got  their  deeds,  found 
them  in  comfortable  log  or  frame  houses 
of  two  or  more  rooms;  sheds,  with  a  cow, 
calves,  swine,  and  poultry,  and  ten  or  more 
acres  under  cultivation,  according  to  the 
number  and  availability  of  labor  in  their 
families..  And,  best  of  all,  better  than  the 
mere  knowledge  of  success,  themselves 
crowned  with  that  pride  of  great  achieve 
ment  ever  and  only  the  result  of  rigid  self- 
denial  and  incessant  toil. 

In  the  National  Republican  Convention 
held  at  Chicago,  June,  1880,  was  a  contest 
that  will  be  ever  memorable  as  pertaining 
to  a  third  term  for  the  Presidency. 

Landing  at  San  Francisco,  September, 
1879,  from  his  tour  of  two  years  around 


188  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

the  world,  and  the  honored  guest  of  the 
crowned  heads  of  Europe,  General  Grant's 
travel  through  the  States  was  a  continued 
ovation.  On  his  arrival  at  Little  Rock, 
Ark.,  citizens  from  all  over  the  State 
hastened  to  do  him  honor,  culminating 
with  a  banquet  at  the  Capitol  Hotel.  The 
gathering  was  democratic  in  the  best  sense 
of  that  word,  political  lines  were  erased, 
Republicans  and  Democrats  vieing  with 
each  other  in  giving  the  distinguished  man 
a  fitting  reception.  Nor  were  social  lines 
adhered  to,  the  writer  being  a  guest  and  re 
sponding  to  the  toast  "The  Possibilities 
of  American  Citizenship." 

At  the  Arkansas  Republican  State  Con 
vention  in  1880  I  was  elected  a  delegate  to 
the  National  Convention  of  June  2  of  that 
year.  As  a  memento  I  highly  prize  my 
bronze  medal  proclaiming  me  as  one  of  the 
historic  "306"  that  never  surrendered— 
compact  and  erect,  "with  every  gun  shot 
ted  and  every  banner  flying,"  went  down 
with  General  Grant  in  an  unsuccessful  ef 
fort  to  nominate  him  for  a  third  term.  It 
was  there  that  Roscoe  Conkling  made  the 
nominating  speech  in  behalf  of  the  General 
that  will  live  in  history,  stirring  the  hearts 
of  the  immense  audience  to  a-  climax  of  pa 
triotic  fervor.  When  he  said,  "Should  you 
ask  from  whence  he  comes,  the  answer  it 
shall  be,  He  comes  from  Appomattox  and 
the  famous  apple  tree." 

The  fiat  of  the  Convention  was  an  illus 
tration  of  the  ephemeral  character  of  co- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

temporary  popular  acclaim.  Ambitious 
rivalry,  the  anticipations  of  envy,  the  bit 
terness  of  disappointed  office  seekers  dur 
ing  two  former  Administrations,  the  hon 
est  belief  of  the  timid  that  a  third  term 
for  one  soever  trustworthy  presaged  and 
paved  the  way  to  an  imperial  monarchy; 
the  mistakes  unavoidable  from  misplaced 
confidence,  happening  in  the  career  of  all 
men  and  inseparable  in  the  administration 
of  government — all  these  elements,  al 
though  incongruous  in  their  nature  and 
rnake-up,  when  they  conspire  are  a  formid 
able  factor,  and  as  such  accomplished  his 
defeat.  Though  dead,  Ulysses  Grant  still 
lives  on;  the  attributes  of  his  personal  no 
bility  as  a  man,  his  patriotism  as  a  citizen 
of  the  Republic,  his  ability  and  clear  per 
spective  as  a  statesman,  his  genius  as  a 
warrior,  his  magnanimity  and  kindness  to 
a  chivalrous,  heroic  but  fallen  foe,  will  ever 
typify  his  greatness  in  civic  virtues  and 
valiant  deeds. 

The  manner  of  General  Grant's  defeat 
was  peculiar.  The  name  of  James  A.  Gar- 
field,  the  successful  nominee,  and  in  polit 
ical  parlance  the  "dark  horse"  (undoubt 
edly  foreplanned  but  kept  in  the  shade),, 
was  suddenly  sprung  upon  the  Convention 
and  amid  a  whirlwind  of  excitement  quick 
ly  received  adherents  from  the  opposition 
which  increased  in  volume  at  each  succes 
sive  balloting,  until  the  climax  was  reached 
that  gave  General  Garfield  the  coveted 
prize.  For  some  time  there  was  much  bit- 


190  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

terness,  and  interchange  of  compliments 
more  emphatic  than  polite.  Within  the 
party  charges  of  infidelity  to  promises  were 
rife.  But  the  second  sober  thought  of  a 
wise  conservatism,  which  is  ever  evidence 
and  measure  of  a  people's  civilization,  tem 
pered  strife  and  assuaged  the  pangs  of  dis 
appointment.  He  was  handsomely  sup 
ported  and  elected,  and  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1881,  was  inaugurated  as  President, 
amid  acclaim,  with  promise  of  a  successful 
Administration.  But  upon  what  a  slender 
thread  do  human  plans  relv!  Scarcely  had 
five  months  elapsed  when  President  Gar- 
field  was  assassinated  by  Charles  Guiteau, 
a  man  of  no  repute,  and  emblems  of  sorrow 
drooped  throughout  the  nation.  This  na 
tional  calamity  necessitated  the  second 
inauguration  of  a  President  during  the 
year  1881.  The  then  Vice-Presiderit,  Ches 
ter  A.  Arthur,  was  duly  installed  Septem 
ber  30  of  that  year.  His  execution  of  the 
duties  of  that  high  office,  assumed  under 
conditions  intricate  and  most  trying,  dis 
armed  criticism  by  its  wisdom  and  ability. 
AY  hen  a  prospective  candidate  for  re 
election  in  1884  the  press  of  New  York^ 
having  solicited  expressions  of  fitness  from 
delegates  to  the  last  National  Convention, 
1  was  pleased  with  the  opportunity  to 
make  this  small  contribution. 

Little  Rock,  Ark.,  Aug.  1,  1884. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  but  voice  the  sentiment  of  the  country 
when  I  sav  that  I  consider  the  Adminis- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  191 

tration  of  President  Arthur  has  been  sig 
nalized  by  its  justice,  eminent  statesman 
ship  and  wise  discretion.-7 

Such  Avas  the  tenor  of  mention,  but  much 
more  pronounced,  by  men  of  the  party, 
and  Mr.  Arthur's  nomination  previous  to 
the  assembling-  of  the  next  Presidential 
Convention  seemed  a  foregone  conclusion. 

Nothing  I  can  write  will  fittingly  de 
scribe  the  personnel  of  James  G.  Blaine, 
who  was  to  be  the  prime  feature  of  the 
Convention  on  nomination  day.  As  a  man 
in  the  neld  of  statesmanship  and  in  inten 
sity  of  devotion,  he  Avas  more  idolized  than 
any  since  his  prototype,  Henry  Clay.  With 
political  erudition  Ava,s  blended  an  elo 
quence  inspiring  and  fascinating;  a  nobil 
ity  of  character  often  displayed  as  the 
champion  of  the  weak;  a  disputant  adept 
in  all  the  mazes  of  analysis,  denunciation, 
or  sarcasm,  he  had  created  antipathy  as 
bitter  as  his  affections  AArere  unyielding. 
While  Speaker  of  the  House,  with  his  coun 
terpart  in  eloquence,  Roscoe  Colliding,  he 
had  many  tilts.  One  of  the  most  noted  and 
probably  far-reaching  in  impeding  his  Pres 
idential  aspirations,  Avas  his  defense  of 
General  Fry,  Avhom  Conkling  sought  to 
have  impeached,  but  Avho  Avas  successfully 
vindicated  and  afterwards  promoted  by  the 
War  Department.  During  the  struggle 
Conkling  hurled  a  javelin  of  taunt  and  in- 
vectiA^e,  incisive,  but  thought  to  be  unjust, 
inducing  a  response  said  to  have  been  ter 
rific  in  its  onslaught,  confounding  the 


192  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

speaker  and  raising  excitement  in  the 
House  to  the  highest  pitch.  I  transcribe  an 
epitome  of  the  speech,  which  will  be  seen 
to  have  bristled  with  galling  ridicule:  "As 
to  the  gentleman's  cruel  sarcasm,  I  hope  he 
will  not  be  too  severe.  The  contempt  of 
that  large-minded  gentleman  is  so  wilting, 
Ids  haughty  disdain,  his  grandiloquent 
swell,  his  majestic  supereminen't,  overpow 
ering  turkey-gobbler  strut,  has  been  so 
crushing  to  myself  and  all  the  members  of 
this  House  that  I  know  it  was  an  act  of  the 
greatest  temerity  for  me  to  enter  upon  a 
controversy  with  him."  Then,  quoting 
ironically  a  newspaper  comparison  of  Mr. 
Conkling  and  Henry  Winter  Davis,  ascrib 
ing  qualities  held  by  them  in  common,  he 
proceeded:  "The  resemblance  is  great,  and 
it  has  given  his  strut  additional  pomposity. 
The  resemblance  is  great,  it  is  striking— 
Hyperion  to  a  satyr;  Thersites  to  Hercules; 
mud  to  marble;  dunghill  to  diamond;  a 
singed  cat  to  a  Bengal  tiger;  a  whining 
puppy  to  a  roaring  lion.  Shade  of  the 
mighty  Davis,  forgive  the  almost  profana 
tion  of  that  jocose  satire!" 

But  James  G.  Blaine,  that  master  of 
diplomacy  and  magnetic  fame,  with  an  as 
tute  following  inspired  and  wild  with 
gilded  promises;  the  nominating  speech  of 
Robert  J.  Ingersoll,  prince  of  orators,  laud 
ing  the  nominee  as  "like  a  mailed  warrior, 
like  a  plumed  knight" — all  these  forces 
contributed  to  turn  the  tide  from  Arthur 
and  irive  him  the  nomination.  I  was  one 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  193 

of  a  lonely  three  of  the  Arkansas  delega 
tion  that  sood  by  the  State's  instructions 
and  voted  for  Arthur,  nine  of  the  delega 
tion  voting  for  Blaiue.  For  obeying  the 
State  and  not  the  after  conclusion  of  the 
delegation,  in  my  next  race  for  a  delegate 
1  was  "left  at  the  stand." 

My  failure  reminded  me  of  the  boy — a 
humble  imitator  of  the  great  George  Wash 
ington- — who  hacked  to  death  a  choice  tree. 
When  asked  who  did  it,  jolly,  gushing  and 
truthful,  said,  "I  did  it,  pap."  The  old  man 
seized  and  gathered  him,  stopping  the 
whipping  occasionally  to  get  breath  and 
wipe  on"  the  perspiration,  would  remark: 
"And  had  der  imperdence  to  confess  it." 
The  boy,  when  finally  released,  between 
sobs  sought  solace  by  saying,  "I  will  never 
tell  the  truth  again  as  long  as  I  live."  I 
did  not  conclude  that  one  should  be  false 
to  an  implied  promise  with  instructions  re 
ceived,  but  I  was  impressed  with  the  con 
viction  that  it  is  unwise  to  trammel  a  dele 
gation  with  decisive  instructions.  A  gen 
eral  expression  of  the  feelinu  or  bias  of  the 
State  Convention  is  proper,  but  so  much 
can  happen  during  the  interim  to  change 
conditions  that  ultimate  action  should  be 
largely  left  to  the  judgment  and  integrity 
of  the  delegation. 

The  manner  of  choosing  a  President  is 
entirely  different  from  that  designed  by 
the  founders  of  the  republic.  The  selection 
of  candidates  by  an  organized  party  was 
not  anticipated.  It  was  intended  that  men 

as) 


194:  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

of  high'  character  should  be  chosen  by  the 
citizens  of  each  State  as  electors,  and  they 
should  select  the  men  they  deemed  most  tit 
to  be  President,  and  the  selection  thereaf 
ter  ratified  by  the  vote  of  the  people.  An 
elector  now  is  but  the  mouthpiece  of  his 
party;  no  matter  what  may  be  his  individ 
ual  judgment,  he  dare  not  disregard  its  fiat. 
The  result  of  the  national  election  was  the 
defeat  of  Mr.  Blaine  and  the  election  of  the 
Democratic  candidate,  Grover  Cleveland. 
Mr.  Cleveland  had  an  independent  person 
ality  and  the  courage  of  his  convictions. 
Affable  and  cordial  in  his  intercourse  with 
Afro- Americans,  and  to  those  of  his  polit 
ical  household  was  prodigal  in  the  be 
stowal  of  appointments.  The  effect  of  this 
was  that  many  colored  men,  leaders  of 
thought  and  race  action,  not  seeing  an  in 
crease  of  oppression,  so  freely  predicted  in 
the  event  of  a  Democratic  President,  ad 
vocated  a  division  of  the  colored  vote,  with 
a  view  of  harmonizing  feeling  and  mutual 
benefit.  A  welcoming  of  that  approach  in 
the  South  may  be  deferred,  but  will  yet  be 
solicited,  despite  its  present  disloyalty  to 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  amendments 
to  the  Constitution. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  195 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  closing  decade  of  the  past  century 
was  conspicuous  for  exhibitions  of  products 
of  nature  and  skill  intended  to  stimulate 
a  country's  consumption,  but  mainly  to  in 
crease  exportation ;  for  a  nation,  not  unlike 
#n  individual,  that  buys  more  than  its  re 
sources  warrant,  bankruptcy  is  inevitable. 
Hence  the  industrial  struggle  of  all  pro 
gressive  nations  to  produce  more  than  they 
consume,  export  the  residue  and  thereby 
add  to  the  national  wealth. 

The  United  States  not  only  excels  in  the 
magnitude  of  natural  productions,  but  in 
skill  in  manufacturing  articles.  The  vast 
stretch  of  agricultural  lands  for  natural 
products,  superiority  of  mechanical  appli 
ance,  and  the  expertness  of  American  work 
men  herald  the  supremacy  of  the  United 
States  for  quantity,  quality  and  celerity. 
For  Yankee  ingenuiy  has  not  only  invented 
-a  needed  article,  but  has  invented  a  "thing 
to  make  the  thing.'7 

National  and  State  expositions  for  the 
extension  of  American  commerce  and  de 
velopment  of  State  undertakings  have  been 
marked  features  of  American  enterprise, 
creating  a  national  fraternity,  and  stimu- 


196  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

lating  domestic  industries.  While  the 
financial  motive  is  ever  in  the  forefront 
and  the  impetus  that  gives  it  "a  habitation 
and  a  name,"  the  moral  effect  is  the  reflex 
influence  of  contact,  the  interchange  of 
fraternal  amenities  that  ripen  and  become 
helpful  for  the  world's  peace,  progress  and 
civilization.  At  the  present  time  Consuls 
of  our  Government  inform  the  State  De 
partment  that  agents  of  American  manu 
facturers  of  steel,  electric  apparatus,  city 
railroads  and  improvements  in  machinery 
are  in  evidence  in  Europe  to  an  extent  hith 
erto  unknown.  The  directors  of  the  World's 
Exposition  held  at  New  Orleans,  La.,  in 
1884,  gave  a  pressing  invitation  to  Afro- 
Americans  to  furnish  exhibits  of  their  pro 
duction  from  farm,  shop  and  home.  The 
late  B.  K.  Bruce,  having  been  created  Chief 
Director,  appointed  commissioners  for  the 
various  States  to  solicit  and  obtain  the 
best  specimens  of  handicraft  in  their  re 
spective  localities  for  "The  Department  of 
Colored  Exhibits,"  and  to  which  the  fol 
lowing  refers: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Aug.  13,  1884. 
Hon.  M.  W.  Gibbs, 

Little  Rock,  Ark. 
Dear  Sir: 

By  virtue  of  authority  vested  in  me  a& 
Chief  Director  of  the  Department  of  Col 
ored  Exhibits  of  the  World's  Exposition,  I 
have  nominated  you  for  Honorary  Commis 
sioner  for  the  State  of  Arkansas.  It  is  un 
necessary  for  me  at  this  time  to  make  any 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  197 

suggestions  relative  to  the  importance  of 
managing  this  business  in  a  manner  that 
will  reflect  credit  on  all  immediately  con 
cerned  and  our  people  in  general  futher 
than  to  say  that  my  heart  is  thoroughly  in 
the  work,  I  will  communicate  with  you 
from  time  to  time,  after  being  advised  of 
your  acceptance,  giving  necessary  informa 
tion  and  instructions. 

Hoping  that  you  will  undertake  the  ful 
fillment  of  the  trust,  I  am, 

Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 
B.  K.  BRUCE, 
Chief  Director. 

I  therefore  accepted,  and  proceeded  to 
canvass  my  Slate  urging  the  great  oppor 
tunity  offered  to  show  our  progress  in  in 
dustry  and  culture,  on  the  fields  of  nature 
or  within  the  realms  of  art.  The  movement 
was  a  novel  one,  and  the  leading  colored 
men  and  women  in  the  different  sections  of 
the  State  had  much  to  do  to  awaken  the 
interest  that  resulted  in  a  very  commend 
able  showing. 

One  of  the  specialties  of  these  exposi 
tions  was  what  was  designated  as  "Eman 
cipation  Day,"  or  colored  people's  day,  for 
the  twofold  purpose  of  directing  the  atten 
tion  of  the  general  public  to  race  advance 
ment,  and  inducing  a  larger  attendance  of 
the  class  directly  concerned,  and  thereby 
stimulate  race  pride  for  greater  achieve 
ments.  With  some  of  our  brethren  this 
appointment  of  a  particular  day  seemed 


198  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

derogatory  to  their  claim  of  recognition 
and  equality  of  citizenship,  and  evoked  con 
siderable  discussion.  In  this  I  thought 
some  of  us  were  unduly  sensitive.  Where 
intention  can  be  ascertained  it  should 
largely  govern  our  estimate  of  human  ac 
tion.  This  exposition  was  not  only  open 
each  and  every  day  to  our  people,  but  we 
were  constantly  invited,  and  the  few  who 
attended  were  most  cordially  treated  and 
our  exhibits  were  properly  placed  without 
distinction. 

The  directors  of  the  exposition  were  gen 
tlemen  known  to  be  most  liberal  in  their 
dealings  with  us,  and  regretted  the  small 
attendance,  remarking  that  aside  from  our 
patronage,  the  exhibits  would  be  benefical 
as  object  lessons,  educating  and  inspiring, 
and  proposed  a  day — "Colored-  People's 
Day."  It  was  not  unlike  in  design  and  ef 
fect  "Emancipation  Day"  at  the  Minneapo 
lis  Exposition,  where  noted  colored  leaders 
from  various  States  attended  and  spoke, 
and  were  not  impressed  that  it  was  deroga 
tory  to  the  race. 

We  have  a  deal  of  "gush"  about  recogni 
tion.  A  demand  for  recognition  presup 
poses  a  rightful  claim  based  upon  an  in 
herent  interest — deportment,  special  fit 
ness,  or  legal  right.  In  politics  we  right 
fully  claim  recognition  in  the  ratio  of  our 
numerical  contribution  to  the  body  politic, 
and  from  public  carriers,  for  the  reason  of 
performance  of  our  part  of  the  contract. 

In  our  demand  for  a  more  extended  rec- 


PAUL   LAWRENCE    DUNBAR. 

Horn  in  1872  at  Dayton,  Ohio— Author  and  Poet — The  Foremost  of  his  Race  for 
Versatility  in  the  Field  of  Literature — His  Poetry  and  Prose  are   Rt^id 
in  Every  Clime  Where  Men  Love  Truth  and  Nature  the  More 
For  Being  Clothed  in  Beauty  of  Diction,  or  Quaint- 
ness    of    Dialect  —  He  has  Published  a 
Number  of  Books. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  199 

ognitioii  oil  these  material  lines,  we  should 
first  remember  that  our  contributions  are 
generally  meager,  and  that  these  exhibi 
tions  are  quite  the  product  of  the  business 
ventures  and  expenditure  of  our  "brother 
in  white,"  and  then  brace  up  and  thank 
Providence  that  excessive  modesty  will 
never  "strike  in"  and  kill  the  Negro.  We 
have  the  men,  the  money  and  the  ability  to 
do  much,  very  much  more,  on  many  busi 
ness  lines  that  are  now  almost  exclusively 
followed  by  our  more  prosperous  fellow- 
citizens.  No  man  in  our  country  need  beg 
for  recognition;  he  can  compel  it  if  he  la 
bors  assiduously  and  takes  advantage  of 
opportunity.  It  can  be  truly  said  of  Little 
Rock  that  the  press  and  leading  citizens 
have  been  more  just  and  liberal  to  her  col 
ored  citizens  than  any  other  Southern  city. 
I  well  remember  when  her  institutions  re 
lating  to  commerce,  literature,  professions, 
Board  of  Trade,  Real  Estate  Exchange,  bar 
and  lyceum  were  open  to  us,  whilst  two- 
thirds  of  their  members  were  our  political 
opponents.  These  required  but  a  moderate 
yearly  outlay,  repaying,  largely,  in  the 
amount  of  information  received.  Scarcely 
any  availed  themselves  of  these  opportuni 
ties.  If  for  any  reason  we  do  not  wish  to 
profit  by  these  overtures,  when  these  trees 
bear  let  us  not  insist  upon  receiving  the 
choicest  of  the  fruit. 

At  an  indignation  mass  meeting  some 
time  ago  a  good  brother  reached  the  climax 
of  the  grievance  and  then  exclaimed: 


200  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

"How  long,  O  Lord,  are  we  to  bear 
dlscrim  i  nat ion  s  ? ' ' 

"For  some  time  longer,"  I  answered,  and 
then  said:  "All  tilings  considered,  we  are 
making  progress,  and  will  continue  in  the 
ratio  we  obtain  education  and  wealth,  and 
come  forward  in  the  incipiency  of  public 
•enterprises  with  our  money  and  practical 
knowledge  from  the  best  possible  sources; 
and,  although  race  identity  still  exists,  the 
antagonisms  and  much  of  the  prejudice  of 
which  we  now  complain  will  be  buried  un 
der  higher  activities  and  greater  enter 
prises — when  we  have  more  bank  and  rail 
road  stock,  fewer'  high-founding  societies, 
such  as  "The  Seventeen  Stars  of  the  Con 
solidation,"  "The  Rising,  Persevering  Free 
Sons  of  Joshua";  "more  landlords  and  few 
er  tenants,  more  owners  of  plantations  and 
fewer  share-workers,  more  merchants  and 
fewer  dudes,  more  piety  and  less  religion, 
more  economy  and  less  wastefulness,  more 
confidence  and  less  envy.  I  simply  rise  to 
submit  these  as  irresistible  claims  to  a 
higher  recognition."  I  succeeded  in  mak 
ing  my  escape,  for  which  I  was  thankful. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  201 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Previous  to  the  exposition  at  New  Or 
leans  in  1885,  Mr.  Henry  Brown,  of  Oberlin, 
Ohio,  visited  the  Southern  Slates  to  obtain 
information  as  to  the  views  and  desire  of 
leading  colored  men  regarding  the  estab 
lishment  of  ''Schools  of  Trade''  in  the  South 
where  the  race  could  become  proficient  in 
.all  the  mechanical  arts.  He  came  at  the 
suggestion  of  philanthropic  men  of  capital 
in  Northern  States,  who  thought  by  such 
special  means  colored  men  and  women 
could  have  an  opportunity  to  equip  them 
selves  with  handicraft,  denied  them  by  the 
trades  unions  and  other  influences  in  the 
country. 

On  his  presentation  of  the  project  in  Lit 
tle  Hock,  it  being  so  completely  in  line  with 
my  view  of  a  factor  so  important  for  the 
uplifting  of  the  race  to  a  higher  manhood 
and  financial  standing,  I  eagerly  co-oper 
ated.  It  was  determined  to  take  advantage 
of  the  attraction  of  the  exposition  at  New 
Orleans,  issue  a  call  for  a  conference  at  that 
point,  and  thereby  have  a  representative 
gathering  to  obtain  their  views.  I  there 
fore  proposed,  had  printed  and  issued  the 
following: 


202  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

CALL   FOE   A   CONFERENCE    ON 
"SCHOOLS  OF  TRADE." 

"Emancipated,  turned  loose,  poor,  igno 
rant  and  houseless,  continually  surrounded 
by  difficulties  and  embarrassments  suffi 
cient  to  appall  and  retard,  by  commendable 
effort  on  their  part,  sustained  by  the  gen 
erous  aid  of  philanthropists  friendly  to  edu 
cation,  our  race  in  the  South  has  made 
gratifying  advance,  mentally  and  morally. 
But  with  this  progress  of  mind  and  morals, 
we  are  confronted  with  the  need  of  oppor 
tunity  to  qualify  ourselves  for  those  activ 
ities  and  industries  necessary  to  make  a 
people  prosperous  and  happy.  Our  great 
Avant  now  is  'cunning  hands'  to  accompany 
cultured  brains.  After  obtaining  the  ben 
efit  of  our  public  schools  our  boys  should 
be  fitted  for  some  useful  and  profitable 
means  of  livelihood.  The  restrictions  en 
gendered  by  trades  unions,  and  the  obsta 
cles  of  race  prejudice  concur  to  make  it  im 
possible  for  them  to  obtain  trades  in  the 
workshops  of  the  country.  Therefore,  we 
need  industrial  schools  where  our  youth 
can  qualify  in  the  various  mechanical  pur 
suits  and  thereby  ennoble  themselves,  and 
add  value  to  the 'State.  For  the  establish 
ment  of  these  "schools  of  trade"  we  require 
a  united  effort  and  should  make  earnest  ap 
peal  to  the  philanthropy  of  the  nation. 

"In  view  of  this  vital  necessity  the  un 
dersigned  do  hereby  call  a  conference,  with 
out  distinction,  of  delegates  appointed  by 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  208 

mass  meetings  in  cities  and  counties;  pre 
siding  officers  of  colleges,  principals  of 
schools,  bishops,  and  leading;  ministers;  ed 
itors  and  publishers  friendly  to  the  move 
ment  are  also  invited  to  meet  at  New  Or 
leans,  La.,  January  15,  1885,  for  expression 
on  this  subject.  Signed, 

"M.  W.  Gibbs,  Little  Rock,  Ark.;  Hon.  J.  C. 
Napier,  Nashville,  Tenn.;  A.  De  Pose, 
New  Orleans,  La.;  Hon.  J.  C.  Clousen, 
Charleston,  S.  C.;  Kev.  B.  F.  Tanner, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Joseph  Carey,  Galves- 
ton,  Tex.;  H.  C.  Smith,  Cleveland,  Ohio; 
W.  G.  Simmons,  Louisville,  Ky.;  Peter. 
H.  Clark,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Hon.  B.  K. 
Bruce,  Washington,  D.  C.;  P.  A.  Bell, 
San  Francisco,  Gal.;  J.  W.  Cromwell, 
Washington,  D.  C.;  J.  Henri  Herbert, 
Trenton,  N.  J.;  Hon.  Henry  Demas,  New 
Orleans,  La.;  Kev.  E.  Lee,  Jacksonville, 
Fla.;  W.  IT.  Russell,  Indianapolis,  Ind.; 
F.  L.  Barnett,  Chicago,  111.;  A.  H. 
Grimke,  Boston,  Mass.;  E.  N.  Overall, 
Omaha,  Neb.;  H.  M.  Turner,  Atlanta, 
Ga.;  Hon.  James  Lewis,  New  Orleans, 
La.;  John  S.  Leary,  Fayettville,  N.  C.; 
Hon.  Fred  Douglass,  Washington,  D.  C.; 
T.  Thomas  Fortune,  New  York;  Rev.  M. 
Van  Horn,  Newport,  R.  L;  Lloyd  G. 
Wheeler,  Chicago,  111.;  J.  W.  Birney,  La 
Crosse,  Wis.;  M.  M.  McLeod,  Jackson, 
Miss.;  George  T.  Downing,  Newport,  B. 
I. ;  D.  Augustus  Straker,  Columbia,  S.  C.,; 
Hon.  P.  B.  S.  Pinchback,  New  Orleans, 
La;  Peter  Joseph,  Mobile,  Ala.;  H.  O. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

Wagner,  Denver,  Colo.;  Hon.  W.  A. 
Pledger,  Atlanta,  Ga.;  H.  Fitzbutler, 
Louisville,  Ky.;  J.  L.  Walker,  Atchison, 
Kan.;  E.  P.  Wade,  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  F.  G. 
Barbadoes,  Washington,  D.  C." 

As  a  duty,  mingled  with  pleasure,  by 
this  humble  means  I  reproduce  a  record  of 
the  names  of  men  who  in  the  last  century' 
were  intent  upon  every  occasion  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  race,  many  of  whom  were 
conspicuous  in  their  bait  tie  for  justice  and 
the  betterment  of  their  fellow  man,  thus 
fitting  themselves  for  harmonies  of  a  higher 
.clime,  have  now  "quiet  sleep  within  the 
grave,"  while  with  the  residue  "life's  shad 
ows  are  meeting"  and  will  ere  long  "be  lost 
to  sight,"  with,  let  us  hope,  their  memory 
only  dimmed  by  greater  activity  and  deeper 
consecration  by  their  successors  for  the 
ideals  they  cherished.  Ever  loyal,  we 
should  not— 

"Rob  the  dead  of  their  sweet  heritage, 
Their  myrrh,  their  wine,  their  sheet  of 

lead  and  trophies  buried"- 
but— 
"Go  get  them  where  they  got  them,  when 

alive, 
And  as  resolutely  dig  or  dive." 

With  the  departed  was  Hon.  B.  K.  Bruce, 
who,  living  to  manhood  under  the  blight 
ing  influences  of  slavery,  by  honesty,  native 
-ability  and  persevering  study,  placed  his 


BLANCHE  K.    BRUCE, 
Late  United  States  Senator,  Register  of  the  United  States  Treasury. 

Uorri   a   Slave  in   1841  in   Virgin ia.— Studied  at  Oberlin — Sergeant-at-Arms  of   tht 

Senate  of   Mississippi— Elected   United   States  Senator  in   1874 — Presi- 

dent  CJarfield  Appointed  Him  Register  of  the  Treasury  May. 

1881  -—A    Record    Honorable   and    Inspiring. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  205 

name  iii  the  forefront,  leaving  his  career 
as  a  model.  With  an  astuteness  of  percep 
tion  for  the  retention  of  friends,  he  had 
suavity  of  manner  for  the  palliation  of 
foes;  with  diligence  and  faithfulness  win 
ning  a  constituency  that  honored  him  with 
a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

The  conference  called  at  New  Orleans, 
La.,  to  promote  industrial  education,  above 
referred  to,  failed  to  be  fruitful.  Members 
of  different  religious  organizations,  with 
out  suggestion  that  their  particular  sect 
would  furnish  a  modicum  of  the  large  ex 
penditure  necessary  to  the  establishment 
of  such  "schools  of  trade,"  strove  to  have 
the  movement  inaugurated,  and  launched 
under  some  particular  denominational  con 
trol. 

Mr.  Brown,  whose  only  object  in  desiring 
to  have  a  conference,  was  to  elicit  an  ex 
pression  from  leading  colored  men,  an  ear 
nest  desire  for  such  "schools  of  trade,"  and 
helpful  suggestions,  looked  on  the  need 
less  strife  with  amazement  and  regret,  and 
finally  determined,  as  unity  of  purpose  and 
a  proper  concepion  of  what  was  needed 
were  so  sadly  lacking,  to  abandon  such  an 
instrumentality  to  favor  his  purpose. 

It  can  be  properly  noted  here  that  among 
the  many  helpful  signs  of  race  advance 
ment  not  the  least  is  a  broader  fraternal- 
ization  of  our  religious  bodies,  an  increas 
ing  tolerance,  indicative  of  greater  intelli 
gence,  the  product  of  a  more  widely  dis 
criminated  educated  ministry.  Our 


206  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

churches,  being  our  largest  organizations 
numerically  (and  greatest  of  moral  edu 
cators),  having  the  ear  of  the  masses,  their 
opportunity  and  growing  disposition  to 
unite  for  the  material  as  well  as  the  spir 
itual  progress  of  our  people,  cannot  be  too 
highly  commended. 

Industrial  fairs,  promulgated  and  held 
by  the  colored  people  in  different  Southern 
States,  have  been  exceedingly  beneficial 
and  cannot  be  too  often  repeated.  Several 
have  occurred  at  Pine  Bluff,  Ark.,  on  the 
extensive  race  and  fair  grounds  owned  by 
Mr.  Wiley  Jones,  who,  with  Dr.  J.  H. 
Smith,  Ferdinand  Havis  and  other  promi 
nent  colored  men  of  the  State,  by  executive 
Ability,  tact  and  judgment  made  them  a 
success. 

The  following  notice  is  from  a  corre 
spondent  of  the  Arkansas  Gazette: 

"Pine  Bluff,  Ark.,  Oct.  21,  1886. 
"This,  the  third  day,  of  the  fair  was 
sunny  and  bright,  and  the  hearts  of  the 
management  were  correspondingly  light. 
Even  before  the  gates  were  open  a  long 
array  of  teams  were  seeking  admission.  The 
executive  officers  were  early  at  their  posts 
and  no  time  was  lost  in  beginning  the  ex 
ercises  of  the  day.  President  J.  H.  Smith 
won  golden  opinions  by  the  pleasant  yet 
firm  manner  he  performed  his  duties.  This 
morning  the  Capital  Guards  were  formally 
received  by  the  Colored  Industrial  Associa 
tion. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  207 

"Judge  Gibbs,  of  Little  Rock,  delivered 
the  welcome  address,  which  was  a  very  elo 
quent  and  scholarly  effort. 

"He  first  praised  the  directors  of  the  fair 
for  their  wonderful  success,  and  said  it  ar 
gues  well  for  the  future  of  the  colored  peo 
ple  in  that  they  have  had  extended  such 
cordial  support;  that  nations  were  influen 
tial  in  the  ratio  of  their  agricultural  and 
mechanical  development,  and  that  the  ar 
ray  of  production  here  made  proclaimed  in 
hopeful  tones  that  'we  are  coming.7 

"He  recognized  in  the  formation  of  the 
Capital  Guards  a  hopeful  omen.  Drill  de 
velops  precision  and  accuracy,  aside  from 
physical  development;  discipline  is  invalu 
able  in  inculcating  the  idea  of  subordina 
tion,  without  which  no  constitutional  gov 
ernment  can  long  exist.  Even  if  they  never 
come  within  the  reach  of  fiery  shot  and 
shell,  they  would  be  benefited,  and  if  war's 
stern  summons  swept  over  the  land,  he  felt 
confident  that  no  more  ready  response 
would  be  made  by  any  class  than  by  the 
Negro." 

Captain  Thompson  responded  in  behalf 
of  his  company,  and  alluded  to  the  whole- 
souled  hospitality  that  had  been  bestowed 
upon  them  by  tire  authorities  of  the  fair 
and  the  citizens  generally.  The  Press  As 
sociation  had  by  their  speeches  proclaimed 
that  the  "pen  was  mightier  than  the 
sword,"  which  he  denied;  that  the  inde 
pendence  of  this  country  from  the  thraldom 
of  England  was  won  by  Washington's 


208  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

sword,  and  that  Lincoln's  pen  only  became 
effective  after  the  sword  had  paved  the 
way.  It  was  a  recognized  arbiter  in  the 
disputes  of  nations,  although  the  pen  could 
render  secure  what  the  sword  had  won." 
The  Captain  put  his  company  through  sev 
eral  evolutions  that  were  very  creditably 
performed. 

In  affairs  of  this  character  the  comingling 
of  the  substantial  and  best  element  of  the 
white  race,  their  liberal  subscriptions  and 
fraternal  endeavor,  give  impetus  and  val 
uable  assistance,  emphasizing  the  fact 
along  the  lines  of  a  higher  industrial  ad 
vancement  that  they  are  in  hearty  sympa 
thy.  We  cannot  too  often  have  these  ob 
ject  evidences  of  our  progress.  They  speak 
loud  and  convincing  far  beyond  oral  an 
nouncement  the  most  eloquent.  It  stimu 
lates  the  fanner  to  extra  exertion  and  more 
careful  measures  for  increase  of  quality 
and  quantity  of  his  crop;  it  inspires  the 
artisan  and  mechanic  for  his  best  handi 
work,  and  welcomes  articles  the  product 
( f  our  cultured  and  refined  women  from  the 
realms  of  the  home.  We  need  this  contin 
ued  stimulus,  shut  out  as  we  are  from  most 
of  the  higher  industries,  the  incentive  born 
of  contact,  and  which  promotes  rivalry,  to 
us  is  denied;  hence  our  inspiration  must 
be  inborn  and  unceasing. 

In  the  economy  of  God  and  nature,  His 
handiwork,  prominent  is  "the  survival  of 
the  fittest."  The  fittest  survive  because 
they  excel.  Whether  within  the  student's 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 


study  or  the  mechanic's  bench,  it  is  excel 
lence  that  counts  and  heralds  its  own  su 
periority.  If  we  desire  not  only  the  best 
personal  success,  but  to  be  helpful  to  the 
race,  it  is  not  enough  for  one  to  be  known 
as  doctor,  lawyer,  mechanic,  or  planter; 
but  it  is  upon  what  round  of  the  ladder  of 
science  mechanics  or  agriculture  he  stands. 
Is  he  above  mediocrity;  does  he  excel?  The 
affirmative  answer  to  this  is  the  heroic  off 
spring  of  self-denial  and  unceasing  mental 
toil. 

A  feature  of  attraction  at  these  fairs  has 
been  the  drill  and  martial  bearing  of  our 
military  companies,  for  while  jubilant  in 
the  "pride  and  pomp  and  circumstance  of 
glorious  war,''  the  measure  of  praise  for 
precision  of  manouver  of  the  soldier  is  only 
excelled  by  commendation  for  his  bravery 
in  action.  The  colored  citizen  took  quiet 
pride  and  much  interest  in  these  companies 
and  were  saddened  Avhen  many  were  com 
manded  by  the  State  authorities  to  dis 
band.  The  motives  which  conspired  and  de 
manded  their  dissolution  were  not  com 
mendable,  but  ungrateful,  for  the  Negro 
soldier  in  every  war  of  the  Kepublic  has 
been  valorous,  loyal,  and  self-denying,  and 
has  abundantly  earned  a  reputation  for 
discipline  and  obedience  to  every  military 
requirement. 

The  organization  of  these  companies,  fur 
nished  with  State  arms,  authorized  and  un 
der  the  patronage  of  the  government  of 
many  of  the  Southern  States,  created  an 


210  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

"esprit  d'corps,"  a  fellowship  and  worthy 
ambition  conducive  to  harmony  and  the 
general  welfare. 

Political  friction,  no  doubt,  had  much  to 
do  with  their  displacement.  But  now  the 
Democracy,  so  long  in  power,  with  majori 
ties  in  many  of  these  States  almost  cumber 
some,  could  well  afford  to  allow  and  pat- 
tronize  these  conservators  for  peace  and 
efficient  protectors  in  war,  who  are  ever 
ready  to  say,  as  Jehu  to  Jonah  ab.  "Is  thy 
heart  right,  as  my  heart  is  with  thine 
heart?  If  it  be,  give  me  thine  hand." 

Previous  to  a  Presidential  campaign  I 
attended  a  meeting  of  leading  colored  I\e- 
publicans  at  New  Orleans,  La.  It  was  not 
called  as  a  strictly  political  conference  in 
the  interest  of  any  particular  candidate, 
.but  to  exchange  views  and  hear  sugges 
tion's  relating  to  pending  legislation  in  Mis 
sissippi  and  South  Carolina  for  curtailing, 
if  not  abolishing  Negro  suffrage  in  those 
States.  Although  the  political  condition 
of  the  Negro  was  then  and  continues  to  be 
of  such  moment  that  at  no  intelligent  gath 
ering  will  it  fail  to  "bob  up"  and  demand 
a  hearing,  and  this  was  no  exception.  While 
the  claims  of  I\eed,  Morton,  Allison,  Harri 
son,  and  McKinley  were  freely  discussed, 
the  suffrage  was  the  leading  topic. 

Prominent  among  the  attendants  were 
T.  T.  Fortune,  of  New  York;  N  W.  Cuney 
and  E.  J.  Scott,  of  Texas;  W.  A.  Pledger 
and  H.  E.  Johnson,  of  Georgia;  P.  B.  S. 
Pinchback,  James  Lewis,  and  J.  Madison 


TIMOTHY    T.    FORTUNE. 
Editor  and  Publisher  of  "New  York  Age." 

Born  in  Jackson   County,    Florida.   October  0.    1856— Polished   and   Able — On   the 
Staff  of  the  White  Press  at  Metropolitan  Centers — The  Most  Aggres 
sive  and  Trenchant  Writer  of  the  Negro  Press. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  211 

Vance,  of  Louisiana;  Stevens,  of  Alabama; 
Stevens,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  E.  Fortune,  of 
Florida;  C.  W.  Anderson,  of  New  York,  and 
others. 

The  late  N.  W.  Cuney,  of  Texas,  was  a 
man  of  commanding  presence,  forceful  and 
emphatic  as  a  speaker;  honest,  tireless  and 
self-sacrificing.  His  sterling  qualities  as  a 
leader  of  men  grows  brighter  as  time  re 
cedes  from  his  demise. 

Fearless  in  enunciation,  the  timid 
thought  him  impractical.  But  there  is  ever 
this  concerning  unpopular  truth:  AVhen  it 
induces  honest  thought  that  burns  to  be 
spoken,  you  can  depend  it  is  not  confined 
to  a  single  possessor;  it  has  habitation  in 
many  hearts.  But  he  alone  is  the  "leader 
of  leaders,"  who,  with  Eolion  harp  or  trum 
pet  call  summons  its  worshipers.  Among 
matters  discussed  was  the  charge  that  Ne 
gro  delegations  were  a  marketable  com 
modity,  with  no  convictions  as  to  national 
policy,  no  regard  for  manly  probity,  and 
\vere  ever  at  the  beck  of  the  highest  pur 
chaser  in  the  political  market.  Such  a 
sweeping  charge  is  most  unjust;  but,  if 
granted,  the  admission  cuts  deeply  in  the 
opposite  direction,  requiring  no  analysis  to 
discover  the  preponderance  of  venality.  It 
may  happen  between  the  receiver  of  stolen 
goods  and  the  thief  that  impulse  to  steal 
is  sometimes  weakened  by  uncertainty  of 
market.  The  Negro  delegate  has  no  mar 
ket  to  seek;  the  market  is  jammed  under 
his  nose  at  every  turn  by  immaculate  white 


212  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

men,  often  entrusted  with  large1  sums  to 
be  placed  '"where  it  will  do  the  most  good,'7 
report  to  those  interested  the  purchase  of 
Negro  votes,  when  such  was  not  the  fact. 
-Satisfied  they  had  placed  it  where  it  would 
d'o  them  the  most  good,  by  allowing  it  to 
rest  in  their  pockets,  this  was  not  only  hard 
on  the  Negro,  but  mean  to  charge*  him  up 
with  it,  then  not  let  him  have  it.  To  say 
there  were  no  colored  men  susceptible  to 
such  advances  would  be  as  idle  as  to  say 
there  were  no  white  men  thereby  influ 
enced;  but  in  either  case  let  us  hope  it  was 
the  exception  and  not  the  rule. 

Conferences  for  statement  and  appeal 
for  removing  harsh  conditions  are  historic, 
antedating  and  creating  constitutional  gov 
ernment;  for,  implanted  in  the  hearts  is  a 
consciousness  of  right,  however  much  self 
ish  hate  may  shut  out  recognition,  or  avar 
ice  stifle  its  egress,  and  the  measure  of  ac 
cord  granted  just  claims  of  the  petitioner 
is  the  .moral  and  Christian  status  of  a  com 
monwealth. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that  the  character 
of  accord  given  the  Negro  in  his  now  severe 
brittle  for  justice  and  equality  before  the 
law  by  the  Christian  churches  and  other  or 
ganizations  is  of  a  peculiar  kind.  While 
the  benefactions  for  moral  and  Christian 
education  is  to  him  indispensable,  it  is  not 
the  kind  most  prominent  and  effectually 
practiced  by  the  Divine  Master  to  dissipate 
wrong.  He  forbids  the  cry  of  peace  when 
there  is  no  peace1.  lie  was  aggressive  and 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


distinct.  The  peculiarity  of  accord  can  be 
accounted  for  in  this,  that  it  is  so  much 
easier  for  the  well-to-do  Christian  to  donate 
to  the  Negro  than  by  word  or  pen  to  de 
nounce  the  wrongs  to  which  he  is  subject. 
Wrong  smiles  complacently  at  any  mode 
save  direct  attack.  It  is  not  in  silent  ac 
quiescence,  but  on  the  forum  of  agitation 
and  denouncement,  that  reform  finds  lodg 
ment,  so  sadly  needed  in  many  of  the  States 
where  he  is  the  victim  of  lawlessness  and 
murder,  his  ballot  suppressed,  and  denied 
representation.  The  partiality  and  inde 
cent  haste  with  which  he  is  tried  and  al 
most  invariably  sent  to  the  penitentiary, 
\vhere  as  convict  he  receives  the  most  bar 
barous  treatment.  As  a  people  no  one  de 
nies  that  they  are  law-abiding;  as  laborers 
in  all  the  avenues  of  industry  in  which  they 
are  capable  they  are  faithful  and  honest: 
as  patriots  at  the  incipiency  and  duration 
of  the  Government  they  have  been  faithful 
and  brave.  If,  then,  in  the  roll  of  patriots, 
citizens  and  producers,  they  have  main 
tained  character  for  fidelity,  deportment, 
and  industry,  surely  they  can  rightly  claim 
and  demand  as  citizens  of  the  Republic 
protection  from  outrage,  justice  in  the 
courts  and  in  every  way  equality  before 
the  law.  They  ask  for  nothing  more,  and 
would  be  unworthy  to  be  content  with  any 
less. 

The  cry  of  "Negro  domination,"  like  the 
"baseless  fabric  of  a  vision,"  has  as  little 
foundation.  The  problem  to  be  solved  is 


214          t  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

not  what  is  or  shall  be  the  status  of  the 
colored  man  born  beneath  the  flag,  but 
whether  the  forces  of  Christian  civilization, 
the  genius  and  spirit  of  our  Government, 
impartiality  in  the  execution  of  law,  with 
out  let  or  hindrance,  are  equal  to  the  per 
formance  of  their  missions,  or  are  only 
"sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbols." 
That  is  the  problem  for  our  white  fellow- 
citizens  to  solve.  That  which  most  troubles 
the  Negro  is  has  the  nation  sufficient  Chris 
tianity  and  regard  for  justice  to  allow  these 
forces  to  prevail?  The  assumption  that 
citizens  of  a  common  country  cannot  live 
together  in  .amity  is  false,  denying  as  it 
does  that  lawful  citizenship  is  the  panoply 
and  bulwark  of  him  who  attains  it,  that 
should  vindicate  and  shield  him,  whether 
he  be  high  or  low,  at  home  or  abroad,  when 
ever  or  wherever  his  civil  rights  are  in 
vaded. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  215 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Never  in  the  history  of  conventions  was 
there  recorded  such  evidence  of  unswerving 
fidelity  by  an  equal  number  to  the  nominee 
of  their  choice  as  that  shown  at  the  Na 
tional  Convention  in  1880,  when  General 
Grant's  name  was  before  the  assembly.  Or 
dinarily  when  a  leader  is  nominated  for 
ballot  his  supporters  are  faithful  as  long  as 
his  prospects  are  inviting,  but  at  the  first 
evidence  of  decadence  no  flock  of  partridges 
scamper  more  readily  to  find  cover.  For 
years  his  birthday  has  been  celebrated  by 
a  reunion  of  the  306  who,  from  the  first  to 
the  last  of  sounding  of  the  36th  ballot, 
stood  with  ranks  solidly  closed  and  courage 
undaunted.  At  such  a  reunion  at  Philadel 
phia,  in  1893,  eighty  were  present,  and  with 
speech,  reminiscence  and  good  cheer  "a 
feast  of  reason  and  a  flow  of  soul,"  time 
sped  "till  the  wee  sma'  hours."  Of  the  col 
ored  delegates,  Mr.  Ferdinan  Havis  and 
the  writer  were  present. 

Mr.  Havis,  of  Arkansas,  ato  the  manor 
born,"  deserves  more  than  mere  mention 
as  the  representative  of  a  class  in  the 
South. 

He  is  a  gentleman  of  fine  qualities  of 
head  and  heart.  As  a  member  of  the  Ar- 


216  SHADOW.  AND  LIGHT. 

kansas  Legislature  in  1873  and  Clerk  of 
Jefferson  County  for  many  years,  he  has 
by  honesty  as  an  official  and  courtesy  of 
manner  made  an  unimpeachable  record, 
and  was  only  dethroned  "by  fraud  and 
force  and  iron  will.''  During  his  leadership 
of  Jefferson  County,  where  three-quarters  of 
all  voters  are  colored,  he  was  ever  conserva 
tive  and  regardful  of  the  views  and  busi 
ness  interests  of  the  numerically  weak  but 
financially  strong  minority  of  Democrats, 
and  by  supporting  a  compromise  ticket 
that  gave  most  prominence  to  the  minority 
sought  to  preserve  harmony.  But  the  ef 
forts  of  such  men  have  proved  unavailing 
to  stem  the  tide  of  political  usurpation, 
now  rampant  at  many  places  in  the  South. 

The  greatest  menace  to  representative 
government  is  not  solely  the  disfranchise- 
ment  of  the  Negro,  for  according  with  the 
eternal  verities  there  cannot  be  a  continued 
disregard  for  the  ballot  in  his  hand  and 
protection  for  his  life,  and  respect  for  them 
in  the  person  of  the  white  man.  Under  the 
genius  of  our  Government  the  rights  of 
claim  and  exercise  are  linked  and  inter 
linked. 

This  truth  stands  out  in  bold  relief  on 
historic  page,  and  should  the  future  his 
torian  record  the  dismemberment  of  the 
Republic,  he  will  indite  its  decay  from  the 
com  men  cement  of  the  violation  of  this 
basic  principle  of  civil  government,  his  be 
ing  but  another  link  in  the  evidence  that 
rapidity  of  material,  without  equality  of 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  217 

moral,  advancement  is  ever  attended  with 
national  decline. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  the  duty  (which  is  ever 
the  highest  policy)  of  the  Negro,  to  be  pa 
triotic  in  his  devotion  to  his  country,  manly 
in  his  appeals  for  justice,  and  wise  by  dis 
carding,  by  word  or  action,  the  fomenting 
of  strife;  ever  on  the  alert  to  close  the 
breach  by  increase  of  intelligence,  moral 
worth  and  financial  progress,  and  thus  in 
great  measure  dissipate  ignorance,  vice  and 
poverty,  the  abolition  of  which  can  be  as 
sisted,  but  not  dispelled,  save  by  a  spirit 
of  self-sacrifice  on  his  part,  subjecting  his 
lower  nature  to  the  control  of  the  higher. 
With  such  effort,  united  to  a  faith  in  God 
and  the  American  conscience,  he  will  yet 
soften  ascerbities,  dispel  hindrance,  and 
stem  the  tide. 

Philanthropy  may  assist  a  man  to  hi& 
feet,  but  cannot  keep  him  there  unaided  by 
self -effort  and  an  unconquerable  will 
power  to  stand;  while  relinquishing  no  part 
of  his  claim  upon  his  white  brother  as  rec 
ompense  for  more  than  a  century  of  unre 
quited  labor,  if  with  an  equal  chance  for 
work,  education  and  legal  protection,  he 
cannot  not  only  stand,  but  advance,  exer 
tion  in  his  behalf  is  "love's  labor  lost,"  he 
having  no  rights  worthy  of  respect. 

But  in  no  fair  mind  can  there  exist  doubt 
as  to  his  advancement.  A  people  nine- 
tenths  of  whom  40  years  ago  did  not  legally 
own  themselves  or  property,  now  hav 
ing  140,000  farms,  homes  and  indus- 


218  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

tries  worth  f  800,000,000;  a  people 
who,  for  a  century  previous  to 
emancipation,  were  by  law  forbidden  to 
learn  to  read  or  write,  now  have  3,000,000 
children  in  27,000  schools,  and  have  re 
duced  their  illiteracy  45  per  cent.,  have 
school  and  church  property  to  the  amount 
of  |50,000,000,  contributing  themselves 
thereto  f  20,000,000;  have  written  300 
books;  have  over  250  newspapers  issued 
each  week.  His  comparative  success  as 
merchant,  mechanic  or  other  line  of  indus 
try  which  he  is  permitted  to  enter,  speaks 
for  itself,  and  finally,  with  per  capita  val 
uation  of  f75.  Yet,  in  face  of  such  statis 
tical  evidence,  there  are  not  wanting  the 
Tillmans,  Morgans,  Burke  Cockrans  and 
other  seers  of  a  Montgomery  convention, 
who,  because  the  Negro,  trammeled,  as  he 
is,  does  not  keep  step  with  the  immense 
strides  of  the  dominant  class  in  their  won 
drous  achievement,  the  product  of  a  thou 
sand  years  of  struggle  and  culture,  un- 
blushingly  allege  that  he  is  relapsing  into 
barbarism,  and  with  an  ingratitude  akin  to 
crime,  are  oblivious  to  the  fact  that  a  large 
measure  of  the  intellectual  and  material 
status  of  the  nation  and  the  cultured  abil 
ity  they  so  balefully  use  to  retard  him,  are 
the  product  of  a  century  of  his  unrequited 
labor. 

The  feeling  that  the  results  of  the  civil 
war  have  been  beneficient,  harmonizing 
theory  and  practice  in  the  autonomy  of  the 
nation  is  manifest  and  conceded.  The 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  219 

growing  unity  of  the  people  of  our 
country  who  40  years  ago  were  en 
gaged  in  fraternal  strife,  should  be 
a  source  of  pleasure  and  welcomed  by  every 
patriotic  heart;  for,  while  bitterness  can  be 
assuaged,  and  laudable  effort  made  to  con 
form  to  new  conditions,  still  convictions 
formed  and  baptized  in  the  fiery  ordeal  of 
war,  blood  and  material  loss  require  forti 
tude,  generosity  and  pariotism  to  soften 
their  asperity,  and  much  kindly  intercourse 
to  promote  the  general  welfare.  The  in 
creased  desire  in  this  direction  is  evidenced 
at  each  recurring  "Decoration  Day,'7  when 
the  Blue  and  the  Gray  harmoniously  inter 
mingle,  recalling  memories  and  incidents 
of  the  internal  strife.  The  soldiers  of  each 
vieing  in  reciprocity,  as  with  "a  union  of 
hearts  and  a  union  of  hands"  with  fragrant 
flowers  they  bedeck  historic  sod. 

But  will  the  nation  remember  that  after 
all  that  can  be  said  or  written,  of  heroic 
circumstance  of  war,  or  in  praise  of  its  par- 
ticipanfts,  all  these  bereft  of  humanity  and 
justice  to  the  weak,  fail  to  constitute  an 
enduring  State,  for  eternal  and  immutable 
is  the  decree  that  "righteousness  exalteth  a 
nation."  Relative  to  this  intermingling  of 
former  foes,  whatever  our  estimate  of  the 
results  of  human  action  may  be,  we  cannot 
unerringly  divine  impurity  of  motive;  hence 
respect  for  honest  conviction  must  be  the 
prelude  to  that  unity  of  patriotism  which 
is  ever  the  safeguard  to  the  integrity  of  a 
nation. 


220  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

The  spirit  that  impelled  contributions  for 
the  erection  of  the  Confederate  monuments 
in  different  sections  of  our  country  from 
donors,  irrespective  of  former  affiliation, 
has  been  benign  in  its  influence.  In  1897 
the  Hon  J.  N.  Smithea  instituted  a  move 
ment  for  such  a  memorial  in  Little  Rock, 
Ark.,  stipulating  that  responses  should  be 
limited  to  one  dollar.  Impressed  that  our 
race  should  not  be  indifferent  to  such  an 
appeal,  I  transmitted  the  following: 

J.  N.  KSinithea,  Editor  "Gazette," 
Little  Rock,  Ark. : 

I  notice  your  effort  to  erect  a  monument 
to  the  Confederate  dead.  A  third  of  a  cen 
tury  has  elapsed  since  the  civil  war.  Con 
viction  in  the  minds  of  the  participants  on 
either  side  as  to  who  was  right  and  who 
was  wrong  is  as  firmly  fixed  as  the  eternal 
hills.  Given,  that  a  view  of  events  leading 
up  to  that  fraternal  strife,  the  bravery  of 
the  one  or  heroic  conduct  of  the  other  from 
standpoints  necessarily  different  will  never 
find  mutual  ground  for  justification,  it 
seems  the  mission  of  patriotism  and  na 
tional  unity  to  give  the  hand  of  welcome 
to  every  effort  that  will  unite  us  in  all  that 
will  promote  the  commoin  glory  of  the  Re 
public.  As  one  of  the  representatives  of 
a  race,  especially  in  this  southland,  I  cheer 
fully  subscribe  my  dollar  to  the  fund,  feel 
ing  that  the  Negro  should  joyfully  hail 
every  effort  to  soften  animosities  which  are 
the  outgrowth  of  a  struggle  in  which,  un 
wittingly,  he  was  so  important  a  factor. 


WILLIAM  A.  PLEDGER, 
Chairman  Republican  State  Central  Committee  of  Georgia. 

Born  near  Athens  forty-five  years  ago— Has  been  a  delegate  to  every  National  Republican 
Convention  for  the  last  twenty-five  years— A  leader  trusted  and  tried. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  221 

No  one  should  be  more  anxious  to  cement 
the  friendly  and  good  offices  of  our  more 
favored  fellow-citizens,  from  whom  we  are 
receiving  the  largest  share  of  our  educa 
tional  and  material  assistance,  so  greatly 
needed  to  bring  us  up  to  the  full  measure 
of  a  noble  citizenship.  By  the  providence 
of  God  we  are  here,  and  are  here  to  stay. 
We  are  producers  of  wealth  and  the  con 
servators  of  peace.  Therefore,  encourage 
us  by  the  exercise  of  justice  and  magnanim 
ity,  that  we  can  say  to  you,  as  Ruth  to 
Naomi  in  Holy  Writ:  "Entreat  me  not  to 
leave  thee,  or  to  return  from  following  af - 
ter  thee,  for  whither  thou  goest  I  will  go; 
and  where  thou  lodges!  I  will  lodge;  thy 
people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God 
my  God;  where  thou  diest  will  I  die,  and 
there  will  I  be  buried;  the  Lord  do  so  to  me 
and  more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee 
and  me." 

Very  truly  yours,  etc., 

Monuments  are  the  mute  mile  stones,  the 
connecting  links  between  a  finished  effort, 
and  an  inspiration  for  continued  struggle. 
But  monuments  are  not  created  after  the 
death  of  those  they  commemorate,  al 
though  they  may  seem  to  be;  they  are  but 
memorials  of  the  structure  already  built, 
the  solidity  of  whose  base  and  symmetry  of 
whose  lines  were  projected  and  fashioned 
by  intensity  of  conviction  and  the  unswerv 
ing  courage  of  their  prototypes  in  amelio 
rating  conditions  while  they  lived.  Bereft 


222  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

of  this,  "monuments  themselves  memorials 
need." 

Having  administered  the  office  of  Regis 
ter  of  United  States  land  by  appointments 
from  Presidents  Hayes  and  Arthur,  my  last 
service  in  the  Interior  Department  was  un 
der  an  appointment  from  President  Harri 
son,  who,  in  1889,  placed  me  as  Receiver  of 
Public  Moneys  at  Little  Rock,-  Ark.,  Land 
District.  It  was  during  this  term  that  the 
Department  ordered  and  appointed  Special 
Commissioners  to  conduct  the  sale  of  un 
sold  lots  on  the  Hot  Springs  Reservation 
at  auction.  As  one  of  the  Commissioners 
and  Receiver  of  Public  Moneys,  I  was  re 
quired  and  gave  a  qualified  bond  for  f  100,- 
000  for  the  faithful  performance  of  the 
trust,  and  with  Register  Raleigh  proceeded 
and  discharged  the  duties  thereto.  Harri 
son's  term  ended  a  career  of  twelve  years 
in  the  land  office.  If  in  retrospective  mo 
ments  amid  the  many  beneficent  things  you 
might  have  done,  but  left  undone,  you 
catch  here  and  there  glimpses  of  unselfish 
ambition  or  benefit  you  have  conferred,  it 
does  much  to  abate  regret,  for  the  recollec 
tion  to  me  is  a  source  of  pleasure  that  dur 
ing  those  terms  by  personal  convass  and 
unofficial  publication  I  contributed  in  in 
ducing  thousands  of  immigrants  and  others 
to  homestead  the  virgin  soil  of  Arkansas, 
who  have  now  good  homes,  comprising  40, 
80  or  160  acres  of  land,  besides  assisting 
them  in  establishing  schools  for  their  chil 
dren. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  223 


CHAPTER  XX. 

In  October,  1897,  by  telegrams  from  my 
friends,  Nathaniel  McKay  and  Dr.  Purvis, 
of  Washington,  I).  C.,  I  was  informed  that 
I  had  been  appointed  United  States  Consul 
for  the  island  of  Madagascar. 

It  was  a  surprise;  for,  while  truth  com 
pels  the  admission  that  I  was  not  averse 
to  "being  taken  in  and  done  for,"  Madagas 
car  had  not  come  within  my  purview;  its 
distance  had  not  "lent  enchantment  to  the 
view.''  I  gave  it  some  thought,  but  could 
not  perceive  that  I  had  been  so  annoyingly 
persistent  to  merit  a  response  from  the 
President,  not  unlike  that  given  by  Mr. 
Blaine  to  one  Mr.  Tite  Barnacle,  who  was 
willing  to  compromise  on  a  foreign  appoint 
ment.  "Certainly/7  was  the  reply;  the  "for 
eigner  the  better."  I  concluded,  however, 
that  the  bard  may  have  been  right  when 
he  wrote  "There  is  a  destiny  that  shapes 
our  ends,"  for  it  often  happens  that  what 
a  man  desires  is  just  what  he  ought  not  to 
have;  and  whether  what  he  gets  is  to  be 
beneficial  depends  largely  upon  its  use. 

I  was  summoned  to  Washington,  and  af 
ter  a  conference  received  my  commission, 
returned  to  Little  Rock  to  prepare  for  de 
parture  to  my  post,  "10,000  miles  away.". 


224  -SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

I  received  a  warm  greeting  and  a  "jolly 
send-off'7  at  a  banquet  given  me  on  Christ 
inas  eve  by  many  friends.  To  name  a  few 
of  the  devoted  would  be  invidious  to  the 
many.  It  will  suffice  to  say  I  felt  grateful 
and  touched  by  the  many  expressions, 
which  added  testimony  to  their  valued  ap 
preciation.  Arriving  at  New  'York  I  was 
met  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Hunt,  who  had  applied 
and  been  highly  commended  for  the  posi 
tion  of  clerk  to  the  consulate,  and  who,  af 
ter  a  year's  faithful  service,  in  pursuance 
of  my  recommendation,  was  appointed 
Vice-Consul,  and  is  now  Consul. 

This,  my  appointment  as  Consul  to  Tama- 
tave,  severs  a  decade's  connection  as  "Sec 
retary  of  the  Republican  State  Central 
Committee,"  and  especially  with  its  Chair 
man,  Mr.  Henry  Cooper,  who,  indefatigable 
as  a  worker,  genial,  but  positive  in  his  con 
victions,  has  managed  the  machinery  of  the 
party  with  but  little  friction.  The  remem 
brance  of  the  partiality,  honors  and  kind 
ness  of  which  I  have  been  a  recipient  from 
members  of  the  party,  irrespective  of  "race 
or  previous  condition,"  will  be  ever  bright 
and  cheery. 

On  January,  1,  1898,  we  embarked  on  the 
French  steamship  Champagne,  and  arrived 
at  Havre  on  the  9th,  and  took  train  for 
Paris.  The  cars  either  for  comfort  or  re 
tirement  in  no  way  equal  ours,  eight  in  a 
compartment,  sitting  omnibus  fashion,  face 
to  face.  We  rolled  on  to  the  Capital,  pass 
ing  many  fine  villas,  the  product  of  French 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  225 

architecture.  Everywhere  one  is  impressed 
with  the  national  peculiarities — the  houses, 
the  streets,  modes  of  conveyance  and  trans 
portation.  Compactness,  neatness,  order 
and  precision  pervades  their  every  under 
taking;  but  for  celerity  and  despatch  of 
business  they  were  painful  to  encounter  or 
behold,  for  it  ill  accords  with  the  American 
mode.  A  ride  of  fours  hours  and  we  reach 
Paris.  At  the  depot  the  baggage  is  placed 
on  long  tables  awaiting  examination  by 
custom-house  officers.  Mine  was  passed 
without.  Took  cab  for  "'Hotel  de  Biiida," 
exquisitely  furnished  and  centrally  located, 
having  easy  access  to  places  of  note. 

This  being  the  most  disagreeable  time  of 
year,  a  lire  in  the  rooms  was  necessary,  for 
outside  everywhere  was  a  damp,  penetrat 
ing  air,  remaining  here  15  days  with  the 
sight  of  the  sun  but  once. 

The  next  day  after  my  arrival  I  called  on 
the  American  Ambassador,  Mr.  Porter,  in 
relation  to  my  exequator,  to  be  issued  by 
the  French  Government.  It  is  a  recogni 
tion  of  status,  and  a  formal  permit  from 
one  nation  to  another  to  allow  their  re 
spective  Consuls  to  exercise  the  duties  ap 
pertaining  thereto  and  a  guarantee  of  pro 
tection  in  their  performance.  Had  a  very 
cordial  reception  from  Mr.  J.  E.  Gowdy,  our 
Consul  at  Paris.  Visited  the  Paris  office 
of  the  New  York  Herald,  where  many  files 
of  American  and  European  papers  can  be 
perused.  A  visit  to  the  "Louvre'7  is  a  joy 
for  the  layman,  as  for  the  connoisseur,  gai- 

(15) 


226  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

leries  a  mile  or  more  in  length  Imug  with 
paintings  grand  in  imagery  and  beaut}'  of 
old  masters,  French  and  Italian,  centuries 
old.  Many  showed  the  silent,  slow  and  im 
pressive  steps  of  age.  But  "you  may  break, 
you  may  scatter  the  vase  if  you  will,  the 
scent  of  the  roses  will  linger  there  still,"  for 
on  shrunken  canvas  or  from  luster  dimmed 
was  imperial  tone  of  materialized  concep 
tion  "not  born  to  die." 

Among  the  guests  of  the  hotel  were  two 
gentlemen,  one  an  American  capitalist,  the 
other  a  German  merchant  from  Berlin,  the 
latter  speaking  French  like  a  native.  We 
became  pleasant  companions,  and  conclud 
ed  on  Sunday  evening  to  go  to  the  "Follies 
Bergere" — in  American  parlance  a  variety 
theater. 

Ten  minutes'  drive  brought  us  to  a  very 
large  building,  lighted  as  if  by  sunlight, 
where  a  hundred  finely-dressed  men  and 
women  crowded  for  entrance.  Outside  of 
what  we  term  pit  and  dress  circle  is  a  par 
tition,  three  or  four  feet  high,  dividing 
them  from  a  promenade  ten  or  fifteen  feet 
wide.  You  can  stand  or  sit  in  this  prom 
enade,  and  see  the  performance.  Our 
friends  suggested  this  plan,  as  we  could  see 
and  hear  more  of  Parisian  peculiarities. 
Here  many  very  beautiful  women  prome 
naded.  They  had  evidently  been  touched 
by  artists,  for  their  make-up  was  superb. 
But  I  could  not  but  think  of  the  refrain  of 
a  song  we  have  all  heard,  "Oh,  but  what 
a  difference  in  the  morning."  They  had 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  227 

sweet,  pretty  sayings,  clothed  in  all  the 
softness  of  modulation  and  earnestness  of 
gesture  of  the  French  people.  My  Amer 
ican  friend,  like  myself,  was  Frenchless, 
and  as  a  consequence  invulnerable.  The 
appearance  of  the  occupants  of  the  front 
row  of  seats  very  forcibly  reminded  me  of 
a  similar  locality  at  the  Capital  Theater  in 
the  City  of  Roses,  on  similar  occasions, 
where  many  of  my  old  friends  with  gaze  in 
tent  loved  to  congregate.  The  performance 
was  spectacular  and  acrobatic,  with  usual 
evolutions,  with  more  "abandon"  and  very 
artistic.  Passing  through  the  cafe,  where 
hundreds  of  finely-dressed  men  and  women 
were  sitting  at  tables  quietly  talking, 
smoking  and  drinking  wine  or  coffee,  we 
passed  to  the  street. 

There  is  much  to  delight  in  a  walk 
through  the  Tulleries  and  "Palace  de  la 
Concord."  These  public  squares  have  an 
acreage  of  several  hundred,  and  are 
adorned  with  flowing  fountains  and  mar 
velous  statuary.  Passing  through  the  Tul 
leries  brings  you  to  the  "Dome  de  Inva 
lids,"  in  which  is  Napoleon's  tomb.  The 
building  and  dome  is  of  the  most  exquisite 
architecture.  Upon  entry  everywhere  your 
gaze  is  confronted  by  stately  columns  of 
Italian  marble  arches,  statuary,  flags  of 
many  varieties,  captured  by  Napoleon  from 
his  enemies  on  many  battlefields,  besides 
other  trophies  of  war. 

As  you  look  down  a  circular  pit  twenty 
feet  deep  and  forty  feet  wide,  enclosed  by 


228  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

a  balustrade  of  Italian  marble,  YOU  see  the 
sarcophagus,  in  which  is  inclosed  all  that 
was  mortal  of  the  great  Napoleon.  The 
mosaic  pavement  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit 
represents  a  wreath  of  laurels;  on  it  rests- 
the  sarcophagus,  consisting  of  a  single 
block,  highly  polished,  of  reddish  brown 
granite,  fourteen  feet  high,  thirteen  long 
and  seven  wide,  brought  from  Finland  at 
a  cost  of  |25,000.  Above  rises  a  lofty  dome 
100  feet  high,  divided  into  two  sections,  one 
of  twelve  compartments,  each  containing  a 
figure  of  one  of  the  twelve  apostles;  the 
other  representing  St.  Louis  offering  to 
Christ  the  sword  with  which  to  vanquish 
his  enemies. 

While  in  Paris  I  visited  Mrs.  Mason,, 
widow  of- James  Mason,  deceased.  Mr.  Ma 
son  was  formerly  a  member  of  the  Arkan 
sas  Senate  and  Sheriff  of  Cliicot  County. 
It  will  be  remembered  by  old  residents  that 
the  death  of  Mason's  father,  an  old  bache 
lor  and  rich  planter,  who  died  intestate, 
caused  a  suit  at  law  of  great  interest  and 
importance.  It  was  an  exciting  trial,  as 
many  thousands  of  dollars  were  at  stake 
in  the  issue.  The  fatherly  care  he  had  ever 
evinced  for  the  education  of  his  children 
(James  having  been  educated  in  France 
and  Martha  at  a  Northern  college);  the  so 
licitude  and  unfailing  recognition,  the 
many  instances  of  which  he  had  designated 
them  as  direct  heirs,  and  other  evidence, 
collateral  and  convincing,  were  availing. 
They  received  a  jury  award. 


HON.  JOHN  C.  DANCY, 

Recorder  of  Deeds  for  District  of  Columbia. 

Born  at  Torboro,    8.   C.,    May,   1857 — Entered    Howard   University — -Elected    Re 
corder  of  Deeds  of  Edgeeombe   County,   S.   C.,   in   1880  and   1882 — Late 
Collector  of  the  Port  at  Willmington^   8.   C.— Christian   and 
Progressive  in   the  Church — Eminent   and  Elo 
quent  iu  the  State. 


SHADOW-  AND  LIGHT. 


An  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  was  taken,  which  dragged 
its  weary  way  for  a  number  of  years,  but 
resulted  in  confirming  the  decision  of  the 
lower  court.  Mrs.  Mason  was  for  many 
years,  through  the  patronage  and  kindness 
of  Senator  Garland  and  other  members  of 
Congress  from  Arkansas,  a  clerk  in  the 
Land  Office  at  \Vashington.  I  found  Mrs. 
Mason  living  in  well-appointed,  apartments 
with  her  daughter,  an  artistic  painter  of 
•some  note,  with  studio  adjoining,  where  I 
was  shown  many  beautiful  productions  of 
her  brush.  I  was  conversant  with  many  in 
stances  in  the  North  where  Southern  plant 
ers  had  brought  their  colored  families  to  be 
educated,  purchasing  and  giving  them 
property  for  settlement  and  sustenance,  es 
pecially  that  their  girls  might  escape  the 
environments  which  undoubtedly  awaited 
them  at  the  South.  These  w^ere  in  fine  and 
valuable  contradistinction  to  many  cases 
similarly  related,  where  they  were  sold  on 
the  auction  block  to  the  highest  bidder. 
But  in  all  candor  it  cannot  but  be  supposed 
that  in  many  instances  the  sale  of  the 
planter's  own  flesh  and  blood  was  involun 
tary.  High  living,  neglect  of  the  compara 
tive  relation  of  resource  and  expenditure, 
gambling  for  big  stakes  on  steamboat  and 
at  Northern  watering  places,  brought  the 
evil  day  with  attending  results  to  the 
"chattel"  subject  to  the  baneful  caprice  of 
unrestrained  liberty. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  1898,  I  was  tak 
ing  mv  leave  of  Paris  to  meet  mv  steamer 


230  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

at  Marseilles  for  a  20-day  voyage  for  Mad 
agascar.  My  stay  at  the  hotel  had  beeii 
pleasant,  ami  1  supposed  had  received  all 
necessary  attention  from  the  servants  that 
occasion  demanded;  but  in  character  it  had 
been  individual.  Now  it  was  united,  for  in 
doorway  and  on  staircase  they  were  (like 
Tennyson's  cannon)  servants  "to  the  right 
of  me  and  servants  to  the  left  of  me,"  smil 
ing  and  gracious.  One,  of  whom  I  had  no 
recollection  of  having  previously  seen,  ap 
proached  me  with  an  obeisance  decidedly 
French  to  remind  me  that  he  was  the  "bag 
gage  man"  and  attended  to  it  when  I  ar 
rived.  I  replied,  "You  are  not  the  man  who 
took  up  my  baggage."  "No,"  he  said;  "I  am 
the  man  who  looked  after  the  man  who 
watched  the  man  who  did  take  it  up." 
"<>h!"  1  said;  and  then  remembering  that 
he  and  I  had  much  in  common,  his  English 
and  my  French  being  twins,  I  conceded  his 
claim,  "tipped"  others  that  impeded  my 
exit,  and  made  hasty  retreat. 

Leaving  Paris  at  2:30  P.  M.,  at  2  in  the 
morning  we  reached  Lyons,  stopping  25 
minutes  for  coffee  and  refreshments,  which 
reached  a  long-felt  want,  arriving  at  Ho 
tel  de  Louvre  et  de  la  Paix,  at  Marseilles, 
three  hours  later.  Paris  is  prolific  in 
names  of  its  hotels,  but  this  was  commen 
surate  in  luxury  and  first  class  in  every 
particular,  very  large,  the  finest  in  Mar 
seilles  and  said  to  be  unsurpassed  in 
France.  It  is  approached  by  a  hall-way 
fifty  feet  long  from  Rue  Canebrian  (the 


SHADOW   AND   LKJHT. 


sl  reel),  which  leads  you  inlo  an  oval  -shaped 
court  100  by  200  feet.  Around  this  court 
in  niclies  an1  finely-sciilpt  nred  statuary, 
paintings  and  choice  flowers  in  porcelain 
vases.  Out  of  this  court  you  are  conducted 
into  1  he  hotel  proper.  Spacious  stairways 
of  Italian  marble,  the  tread  of  which  cov 
ered  with  Turkish  carpels,  leads  you  to  the 
interior.  The  court  in  the  inner  center  of 
the  hotel  rises  to  a  height  of  live  or  six 
stories,  and  is  covered  by  parti-colored 
lilacs,  which  emits  a  soft,  and  pleasing  tint 
on  all  below.  The  dining  room  was  kka  t.hing 
of  beauty,"  and  the  menu  "a  joy  forever." 
The  adornments  of  the  room  would  well 
betit  a  palace.  Oh,  that  I  had  the  tongue 
of  an  orator  or  the  pen  of  a.  ready  writer, 
to  litly  describe!  Took  breakfast  and  then 
a  stroll  along  the  principal  streets  of  the 
city  and  the  wharves  of  the  Mediterranean. 
The  city  resembled  a  bee  hive;  the  houses 
and  streets  are  literally  crowded  with  men 
and  women  of  all  nationalities  and  cos 
tumes. 

Wending  our  way  to  "Xotre  Dame,"  a 
magnificent  church  on  a  hill,  one  thousand 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  city,  entirely 
overlooking  it,  while  the  Mediterranean 
lies  sparkling  in  the  distance  directly  be 
low.  On  the  top  of  the  dome  of  this  edi 
fice  is  a  figure  encased  in  gold,  representing 
"Holy  Mary"  with  the  Christ  in  her  arms. 
A  gallery  surrounds  the  church,  from 
which  the  view  is  grand  and  imposing.  As 
cent  and  descent  can  be  made  by  an  eleva 
tor. 


232  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

On  the  25th  of  January  we  embarked  on 
board  our  ship,  the  "Pie  Ho,"  and  found 
state  room  comfortable  for  the  longest  voy 
age  of  our  travel.  The  view  as  we  pass  out 
of  the  harbor  of  Marseilles  is  quite  pictur 
esque,  with  its  quaint  old  buildings,  moun 
tainous  surroundings,  its  medley  of  ships, 
soldiers  and  sailors  of  every  nation,  differ 
ing  in  uniform  and  costume.  Here,  as  I 
suppose  it  is  everywhere  where  love  and 
friendship  dwell,  hundreds  had  assembled 
at  docks  and  quays  and  other  points  of  van 
tage  to  waive  hands  and  handkerchiefs  of 
a  loving  farewell.  I  thought  of  my  dear 
daughter  on  the  wharf  at  New  York  and 
her  anxious  gaze  until  we  were  lost  in  the 
distance.  This  ship,  the  "Pie  Ho,v  of  a 
French  line,  is  said  to  be  old,  but  staunch, 
comfortable  and  giving  good  service;  but  a 
failure  in  that  particular  the  want  of  which 
retards  the  success  of  many  people  of  whom 
it  could  be  truthfully  said  by  Christian  and 
moralist  that  they  were  good  and  reliable. 
The  "Pie  Ho"  is  not  swift,  but  if  she  retains 
the  commendation  that  oft  accompanies 
slowness,  that  of  being  sure,  we  should  be 
content.  But  age  has  its  limits,  and  happy 
should  all  be  who  safely  and  honorably 
round  up  the  voyage  of  life. 

We  are  now  in  full  view  of  Mount  Strom  - 
bol  in  the  Mediterranean,  a  volcano  in  full 
blast,  emitting  fire  and  clouds  of  smoke. 
Yesterday  we  entered  the  Ionian  Sea;  to 
day  we  have  land  on  either  side,  Sicily  on 
our  right  and  Italy  on  our  left,  with  a  good 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  233 

view  of  il*  coast  lines;  cities,  towns,  cul 
tivated  fields  and  trains  in  motion.  At  2 
I*.  M.  January  80  we  see  Dermot  Light 
house,  and  at  8  reach  Port  Said.  The  Khe 
dive's  dominion,  a  Government  and  busi 
ness  point,  with  many  consular  residences. 
It  was  the  first  sight  of  the  "old  flag"  since 
leaving  Marseilles.  It  is  a  new  baptism  of 
patriotism  for  one  to  see  the  national  ban 
ner  so  far  from  home,  and  impromptu  he 
sings,  "long  may  it  wave,"  for  "with  all  thy 
faults  I  love  tliee  still." 

We  anchored  out  in  the  bay,  and  with 
small  boats  went  ashore.  Port  Said  is  quite 
cosmopolitan  both  in  its  business  and  resi- 
idence  features.  Nearly  every  nationality 
lias  its  representative  in  trade,  but  numer 
ically  the  unspeakable  Turk  is  very  much 
in  evidence.  On  landing  one  of  the  guards, 
numerous  and  whose  charges  are  fixed  by 
law,  took  us  in  charge  to  show  us  the  city. 
The  streets  generally  were  unimproved  and 
irregular,  both  in  architecture  and  location. 
Through  several  dingy  and  untidy  streets 
he  led  us  to  the  public  park,  which  made 
considerable  pretension  to  order  and  neat 
ness.  The  turban,  the  wrap,  the  sandals 
.and  other  Oriental  costumes,  which  made 
up  the  dress,  were  not  more  varied  than 
the  complexion  of  the  people,  but  their 
features  were  generally  fine-cut.  A  marble 
bust  of  De  Lesseps,  the  contractor  of  the 
Suez  Canal,  which  we  shall  soon  enter,  has 
a  prominent  place. 

Through  several  streets,  monotonous  for 
disorder  and  uncleanliness,  we  reached  the 


234:  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

"Mosque,"  the  Mahomedau  place  of  wor 
ship.  In  the  minaret  high  up  on  the  tower 
stood  an  officer  awaiting  the  hour  to  lower 
the  flag  as  a  signal  to  all  Musselmen  that 
they  could  eat,  the  day  being  one  of  their 
fast  days.  In  all  the  streets  through  which 
we  passed  could  be  seen  groups  of  the  faith 
ful  with  anxious  look  toward  the  minaret 
to  catch  the  first  downward  movement  of 
the  flag.  It  came  at  last,  and  with  it  the 
shouting  and  running  of  the  crowds  to 
booths  and  stands  for  eating  purposes  that 
lined  the  sidewalks.  We  approached  the 
"Mosque"  with  all  the  solemnity  possible 
for  hypocritical  heretics  to  assume,  and 
were  met  at  the  door  by  a  grave  and  rev 
erent  sire,  who  interviewed  the  guide. 

We  had  been  told  that  we  would  have  to 
take  off  our  shoes  (just  here  we  noted  the 
same  pliancy  observable  in  many  of  our 
own  denomination  when  there  is  prospect 
of  getting  the  almighty  dollar).  In  some 
way  the  matter  was  compromised  by  put 
ting  on  over  our  shoes  large  sandals  made 
of  straw.  After  paying  50  centimes  each 
(equal  to  10  cents  in  our  currency),  we  en 
tered  a  large  room  without  furniture  or 
other  adornment,  with  stone  floor,  some 
matting,  upon  which  a  number  of  worship 
ers  were  kneeling  and  supplicating  "Al 
lah,"  their  supreme  being.  There  was  an 
earnestness  that  bespoke  sincerity,  and  an 
all-abiding  faith.  I  could  but  think  how 
few  of  us  who  would  criticise  are  true  to 
the  creed  we  profess. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  235 

In  a  kind  of  lavatory  adjoining  could  be 
seen  men  washing  their  feet  and  doing 
oddities  unmentionable  preparatory  to 
worship. 

After  wandering  about  the  building  for 
some  time  I  was  accosted  by  one  of  the  at 
tendants,  and  was  made  to  understand  that 
one  of  my  feet  was  uncovered.  I  had  lost 
one  of  my  sandals.  I  was  rather  nneasy 
for  a  while,  not  knowing  what  they  might 
do  with  that  imholy  foot  that  had  dese 
crated  the  temple.  The  guide  found  it, 
however,  and  "Richard  was  himself  again." 
After  leaving  the  "Mosque"  the  guide  es 
corted  us  shipward  through  the  business 
portion  of  the  city,  neat  and  cleanly,  with 
hotels  and  stores  creditable  to  a  metropolis. 
But  for  beggars  of  unrivaled  persistency  I 
commend  you  to  Port  Said,  for  with  a  pitia- 
bleness,  sincere  or  assumed,  they  dog  your 
every  footstep. 

At  the  southern  part  of  the  city  is  a  large 
cemetery,  having  stones  with  many  hiero 
glyphics  and  inscriptions  denoting  the  for 
mer  locality,  character  and  virtues  of  the 
dead.  With  the  scholar  are  interred  copies 
of  his  literary  productions;  with  the  sol 
dier,  his  sword;  with  the  statesman,  a  roll 
of  his  achievements  for  the  good  of  the 
state,  for  presentation  to  "Allah." 


"236  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  passage  through  the  Suez  Canal  was 
.somewhat  monotonous,  but  a  continued  re 
minder  of  bible  history.  On  either  side  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach  the  desert  spread 
4>ut  its  sandy  atoms  glistening  in  the  sun. 

Out  of  the  canal  we  are  in  the  Gulf  of 
Suez,  and  in  a  few  hours  in  the  Red  Sea,  an 
interesting  locality  in  ancient  history.  It 
is  there  we  learn  that  Pharaoh  and  his 
hosts  met  their  Waterloo  (with  the  accent 
-on  the  water)  in  the  pursuit  of  the  children 
of  Israel.  But  here  we  find  conflicting 
opinions.  Some  say  that  Pharaoh,  arriving 
at  the  bank  and  seeing  the  impossibility  of 
overtaking  them,  turned  and  retired;  oth 
ers,  that  there  were  shoal  places  in  those 
far-away  days  where  any  one  could  cross; 
others,  that  they  crossed  on  flats  very  like 
the  ordinary  modern  mortal.  But  I  do  not 
.accept  this  attempt  to  question  the  ortho 
dox  version,  but  will  verify  it  as  far  as  my 
observation  will  admit.  The  sea  was  likely 
red  in  those  days,  and  has  very  properly 
retained  its  name  on  account  of  the  locality 
being  red-hot  at  times,  or,  perhaps,  chame 
leon  like,  changes  its  color.  This  morning, 
however,  it  is  a  deep  blue.  As  to  Pharaoh 
.and  his  hosts  getting  drowned,  there  can- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  23  7 

not  be  doubt,  if  it  was  in  its  present  condi 
tion  and  they  attempted  to  cross  on  foot. 

But  this  we  do  knoAV,  that  the  success  of 
the  "Children  of  Israel"  in  not  being  "over 
taken"  has  been  the  prototype  of  father  to 
son  in  every  effort  to  do  so  from  that  day 
to  the  present.  There  is  a  serious  view, 
however.  Here  the  sea,  sky  and  neighbor 
hood  of  Jerusalem,  pyramids,  monuments 
and  sacred  traditions  all  conspire  to  have 
a  solemn  and  awe-inspiring  effect.  Thous 
ands  of  generations  of  men  have  lived  and 
moved  in  the  activities  that  engage 
modern  humanity,  but  have  passed  like 
fleeting  shadows,  leaving  only  these  senti 
nels  as  perpetual  reminders.  While  the 
"Bed  Sea"  sings  in  murmuring  cadence 
that  "men  may  come,  and  men  may  go,  but 
I  go  on  forever,"  doubly  impressing  us  that 

"So  the  multitude  goes,  like  the  flower  or 

weed. 

That  wither  away  to  let  others  succeed; 
So  the  multitude  comes,  even  those  we  be 
hold, 
To  repeat  every  tale  that  has  often  been 

told." 
But  a  truce  to  moralizing  on  the  past. 

The  children  of  Israel  seem  to  have  made 
and  kept  their  record  as  "passengers."  I 
was  interested  in  the  passage  of  a  child  of 
Ham.  I  am  somewhat  deficient  in  Bible 
history,  and  am  without  knowledge  of  the 
whereabouts  of  Hani's  children  at  that 


238  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

time,  or  whether  they  had  "crossing"  to  do; 
but  if  they  possessed  the  proverbial  char 
acter  imputed  to  some  of  their  offspring, 
antipathy  to  water,  especially  for  lavatory 
purposes,  I  am  of  the  opinion  they  took  no 
desperate  chances,  "content  to  bear  the  ills 
they  had  than  flv  to  those  they  knew  not 
of." 

Passing  Hurich  Island,  a  British  posses 
sion,  and  having  had  a  very  pleasant  pas 
sage  on  the  Red  Sea,  we  arrive  at  Djiboute, 
Abyssinia,  the  terminus  of  King  Menelik's 
domain,  the  scenes  of  recent  conflict  be 
tween  Italy  and  the  King's  forces,  the  "un 
pleasantness"  resulting  unprofitably  to  the 
Italians.  There  were  landed  from  the  ship 
many  boxes  of  rifles  and  ammunition  for 
the  King's  governor,  who  resides  here.  Dur 
ing  the  few  hours  we  remained  there,  we 
were  interested  in  and  enjoyed  the  gather 
ing  of  ten  or  fifteen  native  boys  around  the 
ship  diving  for  centimes  or  francs  thrown 
by  the  passengers,  their  dexterity  as  divers, 
securing  every  penny,  was  as  clever  as  gro 
tesque.  They  remained  in  the  water  six  or 
eight  hours  during  the  ship's  stay.  A  few 
hours  brought  us  to  Aden,  a  very  strongly 
fortified  appendage  to  the  British  Empire 
at  the  south  end  of  the  Red  Sea.  For  arma 
ment  and  strategical  locality  it  is  the 
Gibraltar  of  the  southern  seas. 

The  rivalry  of  native  boatmen  for  pas 
sengers  and  luggage  to  take  ashore  was 
appalling.  When  I  say  it  surpassed  a  third 
ward  political  meeting  in  "ye  olden  times" 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  239 

in  Little  Hock  I  faintly  describe  it.  Sunday 
morning;  once  more  on  the  way;  one  more 
stop,  and  then  to  Tamatave,  our  destina 
tion. 

Looking  this  beautiful  morning  on  the 
foam-crest  waves  as  they  roll  in  sportive 
emulation,  with  a  cloudless  sky  coming- 
down  on  every  side  to  kiss  the  horizon, 
shutting  out  human  Aasion  of  all  else  be 
yond,  one  could  not  fail  to  be  impressed 
with  the  greatness,  the  omnipotence  of  the 
Creator.  This  being  but  a  speck  of  that 
vast  whole,  comprising  the  celestial  and 
terrestrial  aggregation,  he,  indeed,  who  re 
gards  this  sublime  workmanship  as  the 
product  of  chance  and  not  that  of  a  super 
human  architect  and  law-giver,  by  Whom 
every  atom  of  nature  is  controlled,  is  more 
to  be  pitied  than  condemned. 

To  conclude  our  voyage,  we  have  six  or 
seven  days  of  "innocuous  desuetude.'7  That 
is  what  I  believe  President  Cleveland  des 
ignated  a  monotonous  and  unprofitable 
period.  I  am  not  certain,  however,  and  one 
should  be  careful  in  quoting  great  authors. 

We  pass  the  Gulf  of  Aden  and  enter  the 
Indian  Ocean,  Kem  Huftien  Island  to  the 
right,  and  now  appears  the  eastern  coast 
lines  of  the  continent  of  Africa.  On  that 
continent,  I  learn,  lies  the  ashes  of  my  fore 
fathers.  Peace  abide  with  them,  and  may 
peace  crowned  with  justice  come  to  such 
of  their  descendants  as  are  still  the  vic 
tims  of  dishonesty  and  inhumanity  by  en 
lightened  and  professedly  Christian  na 
tions. 


240  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

Travel  by  sea  loses  in  interest  as  you  re 
cede  or  are  midway  between  distant  points. 
You  somehow  feel  yourself  located  in  the 
neighborhood  of  "Mahomet's  coffin,"  and 
have  a  sort  of  a  "doirt-care-a-continental" 
atmosphere  surrounding  you,  with  nothing 
to  arrest  attention  save  the  usual  incidents 
of  ocean  voyage,  with  no  land  in  sight.  The 
constitutional  promenade  on  deck  before 
and  after  meals,  with  the  French  etiquette 
of  raising  your  hat  or  cap  as  you  pass; 
reading  or  lounging  on  sofas  or  reclining 
chairs;  relating  individual  experiences  of 
life  or  travel ;  criticising  the  conduct  of  oth 
ers  than  yourselves;  the  welcome  sound  of 
the  bell  that  calls  you  to  meals;  the  last 
view  of  the  sun  as  it  bids  you  "good-bye," 
with  its  ineffectual  rays,  and  gently  sinks 
beneath  the  horizon;  the  rising  of  the 
moon,  shedding  its  sheen  of  spark 
ling  light  on  the  dancing  waves;  re 
tirement  to  your  courch  to  listen  awhile  to 
the  heavy  breathing,  and  feel  the  pulse- 
beat  of  the  iron  monitor  as  it  speeds  you 
onward;  finally  to  sleep,  to  dream  of  loved 
ones  at  home. 

The  suavity  of  the  French  is  in  notable 
contrast  with  the  more  taciturn  deport 
ment  of  the  English;  amiable  contact  has 
much  to  do  with  softening  the  asperities 
of  life. 

We  are  now  crossing  the  heretofore 
much-dreaded  equator — weather  splendid, 
light,  cloth  suit  not  uncomfortable,  but  we 
are  at  sea  and  not  on  land.  The  forward 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

deck  is  today  given  up  to  the  sports  of  the 
sailors  (the  custom  when  crossing  the  line), 
and  is  now  the  center  of  attraction — run 
ning  "obstacle  races,-'  the  two  competitors 
getting  under,  and  from  under  a  canvas- 
sheet  held  to  the  deck  by  a  number  of  their 
fellows,  and  then  running  for  the  goal, 
picking  up  potatoes  as  they  ran.  After 
wards,  with  bucket  of  paste  and  paint 
brush,  lathering  head  and  face,  shaving 
with  a  large  wooden  razor  the  unlucky 
competitor — were  a  part  of  the  amuse 
ments  they  imposed  on  "Old  Father  Time." 
Arrived  at  Diego  Suarez,  on  the  north 
ern  port  of  Madagascar,  a  French  naval 
station,  having  a  land-locked  harbor,  pro 
viding  good  shelter  and  anchorage.  The 
town  is  located  on  a  plateau  overlooking 
the  bay.  Many  officers  disembarked  and 
a  large  amount  of  freight  discharged.  The 
resident  population  consisted  of  a  medley 
from  all  eastern  nations.  Anchored  a  mile 
off  and  in  small  boats,  and  after  20  min 
utes'  rowing  we  were  landed.  A  dozen 
stores,  barracks  and  the  hospital  on  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  bay  were  the  only  objects 
of  interest.  The  large  amount  of  freight 
discharged  indicated  it  to  be  a  prominent 
distributing  point  for  the  interior.  Leav 
ing  Diego  and  running  down  the  eastern 
coast  with  land  in  view,  mountainous  and 
apparently  sterile,  we  reach  Tamatave  and 
anchor  in  the  bay. 

(16) 


242  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

The  ship  was  soon  boarded  by  a  messen 
ger  from  Mr.  Wetter,  the  outgoing  Amer 
ican  Consul  at  Madagascar,  and  I  was 
piloted  ashore.  The  view  of  Tamatave 
from  the  ship  was  not  prepossessing, 
and  my  walk  through  the  city 
to  the  hotel  was  not  inspiring.  The 
attempt  to  dignify  the  six  or  eight  feet 
wide  alleys  (which  w^ere  the  main  arteries 
for  travel)  as  avenues  or  streets,  semed 
ludicrous,  and  the  filthy  condition,  the  ab 
sence  of  all  sanitary  regulations  in  a  prov 
ince  pretending  a  civilized  administration, 
was  to  me  a  revelation.  The  natural  se 
quence  of  such  neglect  was  the  visitation 
of  the  "Bubonic  plague"  a  few  months  af 
ter  my  arrival  and  an  immense  death-rate. 
The  alarm  proved  a  conservator  for  the 
living,  for  the  burning  of  the  effected  dis 
tricts,  widening  the  streets  and  enforce 
ment  of  sanitary  rules  have  tended  to  les 
sen  its  virulence,  although  it  has  been 
yearly  in  its  visitations;  for  while  foul  sur 
roundings  are  recognized  as  hot-beds  for 
(he  propagation  of  the  germs  of  this  pest, 
recent  experience  has  demonstrated  that 
while  cleanliness  and  rigid  sanitary  meas 
ures  are  less  inviting,  they  are  not  positive 
barriers  to  its  approach  and  dire  effect, 
The  "terror"  originally  supposed  to  be  in 
digenous  only  to  India,  Egypt,  and  China, 
and  so  domestic  in  its  habits  as  to  confine 
its  ravages  to  few  precincts,  now  stalks 
forth  as  on  a  world  mission — to  Mauritius 
in  Indian  Ocean,  to  Japan,  Brazil,  Austra- 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  243 

lia,  Honolulu,  and  last  and  not  least,  in 
teresting  from  an  American  point  of  view, 
are  the  stealthy  footsteps  of  the  unwel 
come  guest  in  the  city  of  San  Francisco, 
Cal.  "While  medical  information  relating 
to  the  plague  is  still  less  definite  and  ex 
tensive  than  it  should  be,"  says  an  eminent 
physician,  "it  is  now  well  demonstrated 
that  the  disease  depends  upon  a  specific 
microbe." 

It  may  be  communicated  from  one  per 
son  to  another  through  expectoration,  ooz- 
ings  from  the  mouth  of  dying  persons,  or 
through  the  excretions  of  the  body.  "The 
fears  it  inspires  are  well  grounded,  for  the 
recoveries  in  a  case  of  severe  epidemics  are 
only  ten  per  cent.  Of  12C  cases  reported 
from  Manila  from  January  20  to  March  30, 
1900,  112  cases  resulted  fatally.  In  India, 
where  the  plague  has  been  the  most  severe, 
the  deaths  from  this  cause  have  averaged 
5,000  a  week  of  recent  years,  a  considerable 
amount  of  study  has  been  devoted  to  the 
various  phases  of  the  plague,  by  physicians 
in  Europe  and  the  East  especially,  and  a 
number  have  given  their  lives  to  the  cause 
of  medical  science  in  attempts  to  find  some 
method  of  successfully  combating  it.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  no  specific  has  as 
yet  been  discovered  in  its  treatment,  and 
ordinary  curative  measures  have  but  little 
effect  on  its  course. 

In  Chinatown,  San  Francisco,  where  it 
made  its  appearance,  a  rigid  "cordon  sani- 
taire"  was  established,  and  all  outer  inter- 


244  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

course  prohibited.  It  is  not  believed  that 
conditions  are  inviting  in  North  America, 
although  "the  wish  may  be  father  to  the 
thought." 

The  following  brief  expression  relative 
to  Madagascar  and  comment  on  Negro 
status  in  the  following  letter  to  the  "Col 
ored  American,"  published  in  Washington 
City,  may  be  in  place: 

Tamatave,  Madagascar,  Aug.  5,  1900. 

Dear  Friend  Cooper:  I  have  your  favor 
June  14th  last,  in  which  you  say  you  would 
like  to  have  a  line  from  me,  that  you  "may 
let  the  friends  over  here  know  what  you 
are  doing."  Well,  here  it  is,  line  upon  line, 
if  not  precept,  etc.  I  am  "still  doing  busi 
ness  at  the  same  old  stand,'-  and  doubt  if 
I  have  anything  to  say  regarding  this  "far 
away  post"  that  would  particularly  inter 
est  your  readers,  engrossed  as  I  perceive 
they  are  in  domestic  phases  and  in  the 
alignment  of  our  recent  acquisitions. 

Regarding  the  physical  development  or 
moral  progress  of  Madagascar,  as  you 
know  it  is  now  a  French  province,  with  a 
Governor  General  and  staff,  all  appointees 
from  France.  The  Government  is  doing 
considerable  to  open  up  the  country  by 
means  of  telegraphs,  railroads,  turnpikes 
and  canals.  At  Paris  they  recently  voted 
sixty  millions  francs  (12  million  dollars) 
for  a  railroad  from  here  to  Tananarivo, 
the  capital,  200  miles  from  here,  over  a 
mountainous  and  broken  country.  The  cap- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  245 

ital  is  situated  on  a  plateau  5,000  feet 
above  sea  level,  with  a  climate  cool  and 
bracing.  Here  at  Tamatave  a  fireplace  or 
heating  stove  in  a  house  are  unknown  ap 
pendages.  The  Hovas  for  a  long  period 
were  the  rulers  previous  to  the  conquest 
and  occupation  by  the  French,  who  by 
diplomacy — "force  and  iron  will" — the 
means  usually  adopted  by  the  strong  when 
a  coveted  prize  looms  in  the  distance,  add- 
€d  an  immense  territory  to  their  colonial 
possessions.  But  perhaps  in  the  interest 
of  civilization  the  change  is  not  to  be  de 
plored.  The  Hovas  were  a  superior  class 
of  Madagascan  people  the  rulers  being- 
men  of  education  and  ability,  but  not 
equal  in  quality  or  quantity  to  cope  with 
the  energy,  wealth  and  military  prowess  of 
a  power  like  France. 

The  mental  and  physical  conditions  of 
the  great  bulk  of  the  natives  were  not,  and 
are  not,  inviting;  they  were  held  by  a  mild 
system  of  slavery,  a  system  that  in  sub 
stance  still  exists  under  French  rule  as  to 
forced  labor  on  public  works.  The  sever 
ity  of  tasks  and  bad  rum  are  said  by  a 
friendly  society  at  Paris  in  its  protest  "to 
be  fast  decimating  their  number."  The 
French  Government,  however,  are  estab 
lishing  an  extension  of  schools  for  the  na 
tives,  where  industrial  training  will  be  the 
marked  feature,  and  which  on  yesterday, 
the  occasion  being  an  official  visit  the  Gov 
ernor  was  pleased  to  pay  me,  I  took  pains 
to  extol;  as  you  know  industrial  training 


246  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

is  my  pet.  The  General  wisely  remarking, 
"we  wish  first  to  place  the  present  gen 
eration  in  a  position  to  earn  more  money, 
so  they  will  be  able  to  give  their  offspring 
a  higher  education  if  they  wish."  The 
English,  Norwegians  from  America,  the 
Friends  and  other  missions,  are  doing 
something  for  their  educational  and  moral 
progress,  but  the  appliances  are  meager 
compared  with  the  herculean  task  that 
awaits  them. 

There  is,  however,  this  difference  in  the 
problem  here.  There  are  colored  men  oc 
cupying  places  of  prominence  as  officials, 
as  tellers  in  banks,  clerks  in  counting- 
houses  and  merchant  stores.  Here  it  is 
condition,  and  not  color,  wealth  and  posi 
tion,  the  "open  sesame."  On  social  occa 
sions  the  brother  in  black  is  in  evidence, 
without  special  notice  of  the  fact,  and, 
strangest  of  it  all,  on  the  folloAving  day  the 
sun  and  other  heavenly  bodies  seem  to 
stand  or  revolve  in  their  accustomed  or 
bits.  My  health  has  been  good,  although 
the  bubonic  pest,  periodical  in  its  visita 
tions,  has  been  alarming  in  the  suddenness 
of  its  destruction  of  life,  In  the  spring  it 
is  again  expected  to  alight  without  "heal 
ing  in  its  wings."  But  I  will  not  longer 
dwell  on  Madagascan  peculiarities,  many 
of  which,  as  elsewhere,  are  not  chastening. 
What  I  am  interested  in,  and  want  to  know 
about  is,  how  you  are  getting  on  with  the 
"old  grudge?"  If  I  judge  correctly  from 
the  journals  that  reach  me,  that  during  my 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  247 

near  three  years'  absence,  its  status,  un 
like  renowned  grape-juice,  has  neither  dis 
sipated  or  improved  by  lapse  of  time,  and 
that  lynching  and  disfranchisement  still 
have  the  right  of  way. 

The  expansion  of  our  sovereignty  is 
fraught,  with  complications,  and  onerous 
duties  from  the  statesman,  the  zeal  of  the 
humanitarian,  and  of  reformers  and 
friends  of  equitable  government,  un 
flinching  determination  are  required, 
that  kindness  and  justice  shall 
be  ceded  to  the  people  thereof.  But 
is  the  prospect  for  the  dissemination  or  as 
cendancy  of  these  virtues  either  bright  or 
promising?  If  the  exercise  and  enjoyments 
of  these  attributes  are  not  granted  to  mil 
lions  of  the  American  household,  is  it  rea 
sonable  to  expect  they  will  dominate 
abroad?  There  is  reason  for  apprehension 
that  our  cousins  in  the  East  will  find  little 
change  of  despotic  tendencies  amid  the 
rank  and  file  of  American  adventurers. 
The  philosophy  of  our  system  of  govern 
ment  seems  out  of  balance.  Cicero  wrote 
"that  excessive  liberty  leads  both  nations 
and  individuals  into  excessive  slavery." 

But  amid  the  lights  and  shadows  that 
environ  the  Negro,  he  is  neither  unde 
serving  of  the  assistance  rendered,  and  in 
dispensable  for  educational  development, 
which  has  been  generous,  and  for  which  he 
is  grateful,  although  handicapped  by  a 
prejudice  confronting  on  so  many  avenues 
of  industry,  and  forbidding  his  entry.  Not 


248  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

undeserving  for  patient  and  non-anarchist 
in  the  realms  of  labor,  his  right  to  possess 
and  enjoying  equality  of  citizenship  is 
written  with  blood  and  bravery  on  the  bat 
tlefield  of  every  war  of  the  Republic  where 
he  "fell  forward  as  fits  a  man.'-  Munificent 
contributions  of  Christians  and  philan 
thropists,  for  missionary  work  abroad,  are 
greatly  in  evidence,  given  with  a  self-com 
placency  of  duty  done;  but,  however,  fail 
to  vivify  the  declining  pulse-beat  for  equal 
ity  before  the  law  and  justice  at  home. 
Manifestly  there  is  an  absence  of  that  ar 
raignment  and  condemnation  of  wrong 
done  the  weak,  that  contributed  so  largely 
to  abolish  the  "corn  laws  of  England"  and 
slavery  in  the  United  States.  History  is 
the  record  that  it  is  the  men  of  moral  cour 
age  and  heroism  who  by  pen  and  voice, 
that  sociality  and  gain  cannot  intimidate 
and  combat  evil  in  their  very  midst  that 
"leave  footprints  in  the  sands  of  time." 

I  must  close  this  letter,  already  too  long. 
Don't  regard  me  as  a  pessimist.  I  know 
that  Bacon  wrote  that  "men  of  age  object 
too  much,"  but  the  fact  is,  Cooper,  it  has 
been  so  long  since  I  heard  a  Fourth  of  July 
hallelujah  chorus  that  I  am  getting  out  of 
tune. 

McKinley  has  been  again  nominated,  I 
see,  and  doubtless  will  be  elected,  with  a 
Congress  in  harmony,  thus  giving  the 
party  another  lease  of  power,  which,  God 
grant,  let  us  hope,  may  redound  to  the  wel- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  249 

j 

fare  of  all  the  people.  Say  to  my  many 
friends  that  they  are,  "though  lost  to  sight 
to  memory  clear."  Truly  your  friend, 

M.  W.  GIBBS. 


250  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  Island  of  Madagascar  was  discov 
ered  in  1506  by  Lawrence  Almeyda,  a  Por 
tuguese;  but  the  Persians  and  Arabs  are 
said  to  have  known  it  from  time  imme 
morial.  The  island  is  divided  into  28  prov 
inces  and  is  said  to  contain  two  hundred 
millions  acres  of  excellent  land,  watered 
on  all  sides  by  streams  and  large  rivers. 
Its  two  highest  mountains  are  Vigagora 
in  the  north  and  Batistmene  in  the  south, 
said  to  contain  in  their  bowels  abundance 
of  fossils  and  valuable  minerals.  This  isl 
and,  situated  near  the  eastern  coast  of 
Africa,  with  300  miles  of  the  Mozambique 
Channel  intervening,  is  1,000  miles  in 
length  and  varying  from  200  to  400  miles 
in  width,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  in 
remote  ages  a  portion  of  the  continent  of 
Africa  and  that  the  progenitors  of  its  peo 
ple  were  to  that  "manor  born;"  others  that 
the  channel  was  crossed  in  canoes  and 
Madagascar  populated. 

Rev.  W.  E.  Cousins,  an  English  mission 
ary,  in  a  late  edition  of  "Madagascar  of 
Today,"  says  that  "its  people  are  not  on 
the  whole  an  African  people,  and  much  of 
its  ora  and  fauna  indicate  a  very  long  sep- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  251 

aration  from  the  neighboring  continent. 
Particularly  notable  is  the  fact  that  Mada 
gascar  has  no  lions,  deer,  elephants  or  an 
telopes,  which  are  abundant  in  Africa;  the 
people  generally  are  not  Africans,  but  be 
long  to  the  same  family  as  Malays  and  Ma- 
layo  Polynesians."  How  the  Malayon  came 
to  be  the  predominant  language  has  exer 
cised  the  thoughts  of  many,  Africa  being 
not  more  than  300  miles  from  the  west 
coast  of  Madagascar,  whereas  the  nearest 
point,  Malayon  Peninsula,  is  3,000  miles 
away.  That  the  distinct  type  of  African 
presents  itself  in  large  numbers  of  native 
population  is  beyond  question. 

For  much  of  the  following  as  to  the  re 
ligion,  morals  and  customs  of  the  Madagas 
car  people,  I  ami  indebted  to  Rev.  Cousins, 
the  missionary  above  referred  to,  and  a 
work  entitled  "Madagascar,  or  Drury's 
Journal,"  edited  by  Pasfield  Oli\7er  and 
published  in  1729.  Robert  Drury  was  an 
English  lad  that  ran  away  from  home,  was 
shipwrecked,  and  held  in  captivity  by  the 
natives  for  15  years,  and  redeemed  by  Cap 
tain  Mackett,  commanding  the  "Prince  of 
Wales"  in  the  East  India  Company's  serv 
ice.  Also  to  the  "Island  of  Madagascar," 
by  Abbe  Alexis  Rochon,  a  learned  French 
man,  who  visited  the  island  in  1767  and 
made  an  extensive  report. 

Mr.  Oliver  mentions  that  there  are  au 
thors  who  say  that  the  religion  of  these 
people  is  Mahomet  a  nism,  but  he  is  at  a 


252  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

loss  to  know  from  what  they  drew  their 
conclusions,  since  their  sacrifices  and  their 
antipathy  to  revelation;  and,  besides,  at 
the  only  place  where  a  Moorish  ship  (Ma 
hometan)  came,  swines'  flesh  is  eaten. 
These  obviously  show  that  there  can  be 
nothing  in  more  direct  opposition  to  it. 
There  is  no  one  circumstance  like  it,  ex 
cept  circumcision,  and  that  is  well  known 
to  those  learned  in  ancient  history  to  have 
been  common  to  some  Eastern  nations, 
even  before  the  Jews  had  it,  and  where 
there  is  no  reason  to  think  the  name  of  the 
Jews  was  ever  heard,  and  we  have  more 
reason  to  think  that  the  Jews  derived  a 
great  deal  from  them  instead  of  they  from 
the  Jews;  that  their  religion  is  more  an 
cient  is  evident  for  several  obvious  rea 
sons. 

First,  by  their  regarding  dreams  and  di 
vining  by  them,  which  so  early  as  the 
Mosaic  law  the  Children  of  Israel  were 
warned  against. 

Secondly,  these  people  shave  their  hair 
all  off  in  mourning  for  the  dead.  This 
Moses  expressly  commands  the  Israelites 
not  to  do,  and  the  Jews  do  superstitiously 
observe  this  last  and  suffer  their  hair  to 
grow  in  their  mourning. 

Thirdly,  Moses  commanded  none  but 
males  to  be  sacrificed.  On  the  contrary, 
these  sacrifice  cows  for  the  most  part.  They 
have  no  burnt  offerings  but  near  their  se- 
pulchers,  which  with  gum,  burnt  likewise, 


BISHOP  ABRAHAM  GRANT. 

Joined  Church  at  an  Early  Age — Advanced  Until  he  Was  Elected  Bishop  of  the 
A.  M.  E.  Church — AT*  Able  Pulpit  Orator,  and  Among  the  Bishops  He 
is  Known  as  the  Politician  of  his  Church — Having  a  Com 
petency,  He  is  Devoting  His  Closing  Years  to  Be- 
i  nevolence  and  the  Promotion  of  His  Race. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  253 

may  only  arise  from  a  defense  of  cadaver 
ous  scents. 

Fourthly,  but  the  most  remarkable  in 
stance  of  all  is,  that  the  "owley,"  which 
these  Madagascar  people  divine  by  and 
procure  most  extraordinary  dreams,  is  evi 
dently  the  Ephod  and  Teraphin  which  the 
Levites  used  who  lived  in  Micah's  house 
(see  Judges  IT)  and  which  the  Israelites 
could  never  be  wholly  brought  off  from, 
though  contrary  to  their  law.  Some  have 
taken  these  Teraphin  for  images, like  a 
man,  and  there  seems  a  show  of  reason  in 
it  from  Miohali,  SauPs  daughter  putting- 
one  in  David's  bed  to  deceive  her  father's 
messenger,  while  he  escaped.  This,  it  is 
possible,  alludes  to  some  divination  by  the 
Teraphin  which  she  used  in  his  behalf,  for 
Teraphin  is  the  plural  number;  therefore, 
could  not  signify  only  one  image;  neither 
could  the  gods  which  Rachel  stole  from  her 
father,  Labon,  be  one  god  as  big  as  a  man, 
for  she  sat  on  them  and  hid  them.  The 
word  is  here  in  the  original  "Teraphin," 
although  translated  gods.  Then,  in  Hosear 
chapter  3,  verse  4,  "an  image,  an  Ephod 
and  Teraphin,"  are  all  mentioned  in  one 
verse,  plainly  showing  that  they  are  dis 
tinct  things.  It  is  further  to  be  remarked 
that  by  this  Teraphin  they  invoked  the 
dead,  which  is  exactly  the  same  as  these 
people  do  by  the  "Owley"  always  invoking 
the  spirits  of  their  forefathers,  which  is 
expressly  forbidden  to  Israelites,  and  often 
sharply  inveighed  against  by  the  prophets. 


254  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

That  these  people  had  not  their  religion 
from  any  polite  or  learned  nation  is  by 
their  retaining  no  notion  or  meaning  of 
letters,  nor  their  having  a  horse  among 
them,  either  for  carriage  or  other  use, 
which  could  never  have  been  forgotten  had 
they  ever  had  it. 

Mr.  Oliver  positively  asserts  that  these 
Madagascar  people  came  from  Africa,  and 
is  certain  on  account  of  their  color,  while 
other  writers  think  most  of  them  to  be  de 
scendants  of  Malays. 

Captain  Mackett,  previously  mentioned 
as  the  redeemer  of  Robert  Drury  from  his 
15  years'  captivity,  states  that  Devon 
(King)  Toak,  often  told  him  they  had  a  tra 
dition  of  their  coming  to  the  island  many 
years  ago  in  large  canoes;  "but,"  says  Cap 
tain  Oliver,  "let them  come  from  where  they 
will,  it  is  evident  that  their  religion  is  the 
most  ancient  in  the  known  world  and  not 
much  removed  from  natural  religion,  and 
whether  the  Egyptians  and  Canaanites  had 
their  religion  from  them,  or  that  they  are 
Egyptians  originally,  it  had  its  rise  long 
before  the  Children  of  Israel  were  in  bond 
age,  for  Egypt  was  then  a  very  polite 
country,  and  although  idolators,  they  were 
not  any  more  so  than  their  neighbors  be 
fore  Abraham's  time. 

"The  respect  due  from  children  to  pa 
rents  is  taught  them  early  by  those  parents 
and  grows  with  them,  besides  the  grati 
tude  naturally  arising  to  those  who  have 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  255 

fed  arid  protected  them  when  they  were 
helpless  infants.  So  it  is  no  wonder  to  find 
a  law  there  against  cursing  parents.  The 
notion  of  the  Beinlg  of  one  Supreme  Au 
thor  of  nature  arises  from  natural  reflec 
tion  on  the  visible  harmony  and  uniformity 
of  the  universe  and  seeing  that  men  and 
things  did  not  produce  themselves.  The 
reverence  due  to  this  stupendous  Being  is 
only  of  a  pious  and  rightly  amazement, 
dread  and  respect.  The  testimony  was 
everywhere  uniform  that  where  Europeans 
or  Mahometans  had  not  corrupted  them 
they  were  innocent,  moral  and  humane. 

"Physically  the  island  has  lost  none  of 
its  picturesque  character,  so  vividly  por 
trayed  by  Abbe  Rochon  more  than  a  cen 
tury  ago,  who  wrote  'The  Traveler,'  who 
in  pursuit  of  knowledge  traverses  for  the 
first  time  wild  and  mountainous  countries, 
intersected  by  ridges  and  valleys,  where 
nature,  abandoned  to  its  own  fertility,  pre 
sents  the  most  singular  and  varied  produc 
tions,  cannot  help  being  struck  with  ter 
ror  and  surprise  on  viewing  those  awful 
precipices,  the  summits  of  which  are  cov 
ered  with  trees  as  ancient  perhaps  as  the 
world.  His  astonishment  is  increased 
when  he  hears  the  noise  of  immense  cas 
cades  which  are  so  inaccessible  that  it  is 
impossible  for  him  to  approach  them.  But 
these  scenes,  truly  picturesque,  are  always 
succeeded  by  rural  views,  delightful  hills 
and  plains,  where  vegetation  is  never  in- 


256  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

terrupted  by  the  severity  and  vicissitudes 
of  the  seasons.  The  eye  with  pleasure  be 
holds  those  extensive  savannas  which  af 
ford  nourishment  to  numerous  herds  of 
cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep.  Fields  of  rice 
and  potatoes  present  also  a  new  and  highly 
interesting  spectacle.  One  sees  agriculture 
flourishing,  while  nature  alone  defrays  al 
most  all  the  expense.  The  fortunate  in 
habitants  of  Madagascar  need  not  moisten 
the  earth  with  their  sweat;  the}7  turn  it  up 
slightly  with  a  pick-axe,  and  this  labor 
alone  is  sufficient.  They  make  holes  in  the 
ground  at  a  little  distance  from  each  other 
and  throw  into  them  a  few  grains  .of  rice, 
-over  which  they  spread  the  mold  with 
their  feet.  And  what  proves  the  great  fer 
tility  of  the  soil  is  that  a  field  thus  sown 
produces  an  hundred-fold.  The  forests 
contain  a  prodigious  variety  of  the  most 
beautiful  trees,  such  as  palms  of  every 
land,  ebony,  wood  for  dyeing,  bamboos  of 
an  enormous  size,  and  orange  and  lemon 
trees."  The  Abbe's  picture  is  quite  en 
chanting,  for  it  seems  that  "every  prospect 
pleases." 

.  A  view  of  Antananarivo,  the  capital  of 
Madagascar,  in  the  word-painting  of  Cam 
eron,  a  war  correspondent  of  the  London 
Standard,  is  interesting.  "Antananarivo 
was  in  sight  and  we  could  plainly  see  the 
glass  windows  of  the  palace  glistening  in 
the  morning  sun,  on  the  top  of  the  long 
hill  upon  which  the  city  is  built.  It  was 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  257 

Sunday,  and  the  people  were  clustering 
along1  the  foot-paths  on  their  way  to  church 
or  sitting  in  the  grass  outside  waiting  for 
the  services  to  begin,  as  they  do  in  villages 
at  home.  The  women,  who  appeared  to  be 
in  the  majority,  wore  white  cotton  gowns, 
often  neatly  embroidered,  and  white  or 
black  and  white  striped  lambas,  thrown 
gracefully  over  their  shoulders.  The  men 
were  clad  also  in  cotton,  white  cotton  pan 
taloons,  cotton  lambas,  and  straw  hats, 
with  large  black  silk  band.  In  the  morn 
ing  sun  the  play  of  colors  over  the  land 
scape  was  lovely.  The  dark  green  hills, 
studded  with  the  brilliant  red  brick  houses 
of  the  inhabitants,  whose  white  garments 
dotted  the  lanes  and  foot-paths,  contrasted 
with  the  brighter  emerald  of  the  rice  fields 
in  the  hollows.  The  soil  everywhere  is 
deep  red,  almost  magenta,  in  color,  and 
where  the  roads  or  pathways  cross  the 
hills  they  shine  out  as  if  so  many  paint 
brushes  had  streaked  the  country  in  broad 
red  stripes.  Above  all,  the  spires  of  the 
strange  city,  set  on  top  of  its  mountain 
with  a  deep  blue  sky  for  a  background, 
added  to  the  beauty  of  the  scene. 

"It  was  difficult  to  imagine  that  this 
peaceful  country,  with  its  pretty  cottages, 
its  innumerable  chapels,  wThose  bells  were 
then  calling  its  people  to  worship,  and  its 
troops  of  white-robed  men  and  women  an 
swering  the  summons,  was  the  barbarous 
Madagascar  of  twenty  years  ago." 

(17) 


258  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

Mention  of  the  form  of  government  bad 
by  the  Madagascar  people  and  which  is 
now  being  superseded  by  occupancy  of  the 
French  and  the  introduction  of  laws  of  a 
civilized  nation,  may  not  be  out  of  place. 
As  far  back  as  tradition  will  carry,  there 
existed  in  Madagascar  a  kind  of  feudalism. 
Villages  were  usually  built  on  the  hilltops, 
and  each  hilltop  had  its  own  chieftain,  and 
these  petty  feudal  chiefs  were  constantly 
waging  war  with  each  other.  The  people 
living  on  these  feudal  estates  paid  taxes 
and  rendered  certain  services  to  their  feu 
dal  lords.  Each  chief  enjoyed  a  semi-inde 
pendence,  for  no  strong  over-lord  existed. 
Attempts  were  made  from  time  to  time 
to  unite  these  petty  chieftains  into  one 
Kingdom,  but  no  one  tribe  succeeded  in 
making  itself  supreme  till  the  days  of  Ra- 
dam  I,  who  succeeded  in  bringing  the  whole 
of  Imerina  under  his  government,  and  to 
his  son,  Raclama,  he  left  the  task  of  subdu 
ing  the  rest  of  the  island.  By  allying  him 
self  closely  with  England,  Iiadama  ob 
tained  military  instruction  and  carried 
war  into  distant  provinces.  He  ultimately 
succeded  in  conquering  many  of  the  tribes 
and  his  reign  marked  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era  in  Madagascar.  Indeed,  only  from 
his  days  could  Madagascar  in  any  sense1  be 
regarded  as  a  political  unit. 

In  one  direction,  however,  the  results  of 
Kadama's  policy  must  be  regarded  as  retro 
gressive.  Before  his  reign  no  chief  or 
king  was  powerful  enough  to  impose  liis 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  259 

rule  upon  the  people  without  their  con 
sent. 

Opposition  to  rule,  without  the  consent 
of  the  governed,  has  been  the  shibboleth 
with  which  liberty  has  rallied  the  votaries 
of  constitutional  government  in  all  its  re 
forms.  It  was  the  magna  charter  extorted 
from  King  John  at  Runnymead — the 
trumpet  call  echoing  and  re-echoing  by  hill 
and  through  valley  in  our  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Before  Radama,  although 
rude  and  primitive  in  form,  it  was  the 
basic  principle  cherished  by  the  people  of 
Madagascar.  The  principal  men  of  each 
district,  had  to  be  constantly  consulted  and 
Kabary,  or  public  assemblies  like  the 
Greek  or  the  Swiss  Communal  assemblies, 
were  called  for  the  discussion  of  all  im 
portant  affairs,  and  public  opinion  had  a 
fair  opportunity  of  making  itself  effective. 

"A  single  tree  does  not  make  a  forest, 
but  the  thoughts  of  many  constitute  a  gov 
ernment/'  is  handed  down  by  tradition  as 
one  of  the  farewell  sayings  of  their  early 
kings,  and  is  often  quoted  by  the  people. 
This  was  the  spirit  that  existed  in  "ye 
olden  time,"  but  after  Radama  I.  formed  a 
large  army  and  a  military  caste  was  cre 
ated  there  was  a  strong  tendency  to  re 
press  and  minimize  the  influence  of  civ 
ilians  in  public  affairs,  and  men  holding 
military  rank  have  wielded  the  chief  au 
thority. 

It  was  ever  thus;  for  while  the  chiefs  of 
victorious  legions  are  received  with  strains 


260  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

of  "conquering  hero,"  have  roses  for  a 
pathway  canopied  with  waving  flag  and 
triumphant  banner,  there  is  not  wanting  a 
latent,  reserved  concern  for  the  legitimate 
use  of  the  franchise  granted  and  whether 
vaulting  ambition  may  not  destroy  the  sa 
cred  inheritance  they  were  commissioned 
to  preserve.  Military  rank  in  Madagascar 
Avas  strangely  reckoned  by  numbers.  The 
highest  officers  being  called  men  of  "six 
teen  honors/7  the  men  of  twelve  honors 
would  be  equal  in  rank  to  a  field  marshal, 
the  men  of  nine  honors  to  a  colonel,  and 
the  man  of  three  honors  to  a  sergeant,  and 
so  on,  through  the  whole  series. 

When  any  important  government  busi 
ness  had  to  be  made  known  the  men  from 
12  honors  upward  were  summoned  to  the 
palace.  Above  all  these  officers  stood  the 
Prime  Minister.  His  Excellency  Ramilof- 
arivony.  The  supreme  head  of  the  state 
was  the  Mpanjaka,  or  sovereign,  and  every 
proclamation  was  issued  in  her  name  and 
was  generally-  countersigned  and  con 
firmed  as  a  genuine  royal  message  by  the 
Prime  Minister.  For  three  reigns,  namely, 
from  the  accession  of  Easaherina  in  1863, 
Mpanjaka  had  been  a  woman  and  the  wife 
of  the  Prime  Minister.  A  general  impres 
sion  exists  in  England  that  this  is  an  old 
Madagascar  custom,  but  such  is  not  the 
case.  The  arrangement  is  of  quite  recent 
date.  The  last  Prime  Minister  (not  being 
of  royal  blood)  was  content  to  be  Mpan 
jaka,  or  ruler,  and  while  all  public  honor 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  261 

was  shown  to  the  Queen,  and  her  authority 
fully  acknowledged,  those  behind  the 
scenes  would  have  us  believe  that  the 
Queen  was  supreme  only  in  name. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Prime  Minister, 
and  even  his  supposed  wishes  and  prefer 
ences,  were  the  most  potent  forces  in  Mad 
agascar.  No  one  seemed  able  to  exercise 
any  independent  influence,  and  time  after 
time  the  men  who  showed  any  special  abil 
ity  or  gained  popularity  have  been  re 
moved,  swept  away  as  it  were,  out  of  the 
path  of  the  man  who  had  assumed  and  by 
his  ability  and  astuteness  maintained  for 
thirty  years  the  highest  position  in  the 
country.  There  was,  no  doubt,  a  large 
amount  of  latent  rebellion  against  this 
"one-man  government,"  but  those  who 
were  the  most  ready  to  grumble  in  private 
were  in  public,  perhaps,  the  most  servile 
of  any.  It  is  conceded  that  in  many  ways 
the  Prime  Minister  was  an  able  ruler,  and 
compared  with  those  who  went  before  him 
was  deserving  of  great  praise. 

He  made  many  attempts  to  prevent  the 
corruption  of  justice,  and  strenuously  en 
deavored  to  improve  the  administration, 
and  for  many  years  had  managed  to  hold 
in  check  the  ambitious  projects  of  French 
statesmen,  and  had  shown  at  many  times 
his  interest  in  the  cause  of  education. 

But  his  monopoly  as  a  ruler,  the  idea  of 
omnipotent  control,  refusal  to  allow  his 
subordinates  to  take  their  share  of  respon 
sibility,  like  many  similar  instances  which 


262  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

history  records,  loosened  the  bond  of  pa 
triotic  interest,  love  and  integrity  for  coun 
try,  and  made  easy  the  ingress  of  the 
French  in  subduing  and  appropriating  the 
Island  of  Madagascar. 

It  has  been  stated  that  no  account  of 
Madagascar  government  would  be  com 
plete  that  did  not  include  a  description  of 
their  system  of  "fanompoana,"  or  forced 
service,  which  answers  very  nearly  to  the 
old  feudal  service,  and  to  the  system 
known  in  Egypt  as  "corvee."  The  tax- 
gatherer  is  not  the  ubiquitous  person  in 
Madagascar  he  is  generally  supposed  to 
have  been. 

There  were  a  few  taxes  paid  by  the  people, 
such,  for  example,  as  a  small  tax  in  kind 
on  the  rice  crop,  and  occasionally  a  small 
poll-tax,  and  money  paid  the  sovereigns  as 
a  token  of  allegiance  on  many  occasions. 

Taxes  of  this  kind  were  not  burdensome. 
The  one  burden  that  galled  and  irritated 
the  people  was  the  liability  to  be  called 
upon  at  any  moment  to  render  unrequited 
service  to  the  government. 

Every  man  had  something  that  was  re 
garded  as  "fanompoana."  The  people  of 
one  district  might  be  required  to  make 
mats  for  the  government,  in  another  pots, 
the  article  required.  From  one  district 
certain  men  were  required  to  bring  cray 
fish  to  the  capital,  charcoal  from  another, 
iron  from  another,  and  so  on  through  all 
the  series  of  wants.  The  jeweler  must  make 
such  articles  as  the  Queen  would  desire, 
the  tailor  use  his  needle  and  the  writer  his 


HON.  JOHN  E.   BUSH, 
Receiver  of  United  States  Lands  at  Little  Rock. 


Arkansas. 


Former  Principal  of  Public  Schools  of  Little  Rock— Clerk  in  Railway  Mail  Service 
—Grand  Scribe  of  "Mosaic  Templars  of  America" — An  Able 
and  Leading  Republican  of  Arkansas. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  263 

pen,  as  the  government  might  need.  The 
system  had  in  it  some  show  of  rough-and- 
ready  justice,  and  was  based  on  the  idea 
that  each  must  contribute  to  the  needs  of 
the  state  according  to  his  several  abilities; 
but  in  the  actual  working  it  had  a  most 
injurious  influence  on  the  wellbeing  of  the 
country.  Each  man  tried  to  avoid  the  de 
mands  made  upon  him,  and  the  art  "how 
not  to  do  it7'  was  cultivated  to  a  very  high 
degree  of  perfection.  Many  of  the  head 
men  made  this  "faiiompoaua"  system  a 
means  of  enriching  themselves,  compelling 
the  subordinates  to  serve  them  as  well  as 
the  government.  History  does  but  repeat 
itself,  as  there  are  not  wanting  instances 
in  our  own  country  where  certain  heads  of 
department  "fanomponed"  subordinates 
for  private  service. 

In  many  ways  are  recorded  the  product  of 
the  fertile  brain  of  these  head  men.  For 
instance,  the  centurion,  or  head  man  of  a 
certain  district,  gave  out  a  notice  in  the 
church  yard,  on  Sunday  morning,  or  at  a 
week-day  market,  that  a  hundred  men 
would  be  required  next  morning  to  carry 
charcoal  for  the  government.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  he  required  only  twenty,  but  he 
knew  that  many  would  come  to  him  to 
beg  off,  and  as  none  would  come  empty- 
handed,  his  profit  on  the  transaction  was 
considerable.  Another  illustration  was 
given  Mr.  Cousins  by  the  British  Consul. 
It  was  customary  to  send  up  mails  from 
the  coast  by  government  runners,  but  Eng- 


264:  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

lish  ideas  being  adverse  to  demanding  un 
requited  service,  the  Consul  had  always 
sent  the  usual  wages  for  the  runners  to  the 
Governor,  who  pocketed  the  dollars  and 
"fanomponed"  the  mail.  But  enough  of 
this,  as  it  has  a  flavor  of  our  "Star  Route 
Mail"  disclosures,  which  startled  the  coun 
try  some  years  ago,  and  conclude  with  a 
tribute  to  Tammany,  as: 

We  arise  to  remark,  and  our  language  is 

plain, 
That  the  Tweeds  and  the  Crokers  are  of 

Malagash  fame. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  265 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  introduction  and  perpetuation  of 
the  Christian  religion  in  Madagascar  has 
been  attended  with  vicissitudes,  hopeful, 
discouraging,  and  finally  permanent.  The 
Catholics  were  the  first  to  attempt  to  gain 
a  footing  on  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
island.  A  French  mission  settled  and  com 
menced  to  instruct  the  natives  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith,  and  maintained  a 
mission  in  spite  of  many  discouragements 
for  twenty  years,  and  then  came  to  an  end. 
Protestants  who  a  century  and  a  half  later 
carried  the  Gospel  to  Madagascar  found  it 
virgin  soil.  They  found  a  people  without 
a  written  language  or  knowledge  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Both  in  their  literary  and 
evangelical  labors  they  had  to  revive  a 
work  that  was  not  dying  out,  but  to  start 
de  novo,  and  the  London  Missionary  So 
ciety  had  to  seek  its  own  way  to  carry  out 
its  objects. 

The  men  to  whom  it  appears  that  the 
Madagascar  people  are  indebted  for  their 
written  languages  and  the  first  translation 
of  the  Scriptures  were  two  Welshmen. 

David  Jones  and  David  Griffiths — these 


266  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

two  men  were  the  pioneers  of  Protestant 
missions  in  Madagascar — the  first  in  1820, 
the  second  a  year  later.  The  main  strength 
of  these  early  missionaries  was  devoted  to 
educational  work,  in  which  they  were  vig 
orously  supported  by  King  Kadama  I,  and 
Mr.  Hastie,  the  British  agent.  Besides 
this  they  began  very  early  to  make  a  trans 
lation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  in  ten  years 
after  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Jones  in  Antanan 
arivo  the  first  edition  of  3,000  copies  of  the 
Xew  Testament  was  completed,  in  March, 
1830.  At  this  time  much  progress  had 
been  made  in  the  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament.  The  account  of  the  completion 
of  it  is  interesting.  Soon  after  the  death 
of  King  liadama  I,  in  1828,  the  mission 
aries  saw  clear  indications  of  the  uncer 
tainty  of  their  positions;  ominous  clouds 
began  to  gather  until  the  storm  burst. 

The  edict  of  Queen  Ranavalona  I  against 
the  Christian  Church  was  published  March 
1,  1835.  A  portion  of  the  Old  Testament 
translation  was  uncompleted.  The  mis 
sions  were  deserted  by  their  converts,  and 
they  could  procure  no  workman  to  assist; 
so  with  trembling  haste  they  proceeded 
with  their  task,  and  at  the  end  of  June 
they  had  joy  in  seeing  the  first  bound  cop 
ies  of  the  completed  Bible.  Most  of  these 
were  secretly  distributed,  and  seventy  re 
maining  copies  were  buried  for  safety  in 
the  earth — precious  seed  over  which  God 
watched  and  which  in  due  season  produced 
a  glorious  harvest.  The  translators  were 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  267 

driven  away,  but  the  book  remained. 
Studied  in  secret,  and  at  the  risk  of  life,  it 
served  during  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  persecution  to  keep  alive  faith 
in  the  newly  received  religion;  for,  during 
all  this  time,  to  use  the  familiar  native 
phrase,  "the  land  was  dark."  At  its  com 
mencement  Queen  Ranavalona  (the  Queen 
Mary  of  Madagascar),  with  all  the  force  of 
her  strong  will,  set  herself  to  destroy  the 
new  religion.  "It  was  cloth/1  she  said,  "of 
a  pattern  she  did  not  like,  and  she  was  de 
termined  none  of  her  people  should  use  it." 
The  victims  of  her  fury  form  a  noble 
army  of  martyrs,  of  whom  Madagascar  is 
justly  proud.  The  causes  that  led  to  the 
persecution  [ire  not  far  to  seek.  On  the  one 
hand,  they  were  intensely  conservative, 
clinging  to  ancestral  customs;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  a  suspicious  and  jealous  fear 
of  foreign  influence.  The  zealous  work  of 
the  missionaries  was  believed  by  many  of 
the  Queen's  advisers  to  be  only  a  cloak  to 
conceal  political  designs.  The  teachings 
of  the  foreigners  were  proving  so  attractive 
that  their  chapels  were  crowded,  and  the 
influence  of  this  new  religion  was  making 
itself  felt  in  many  families.  Whither 
would  all  this  lead?  Was  it  to  pave  the 
way  to  annex  the  island  to  the  English 
Government?  The  word  "society"  to  a  na 
tive  ignorant  of  English  would  suggest  a 
phrase  of  their  own  which  sounds  alike, 
viz:  "sosoy-oty" — "push  the  canoe  over  this 
way."  This  to  the  ingenuous  or  suspi- 


268  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

cious  mind  of  the  hearers  suggested  the 
idea  of  pushing  over  the  Government  of 
Madagascar  to  those  across  the  ocean  who 
were  supposed  to  be  greedily  seeking  to 
seize  it.  This  is  seemingly  absurd,  but  not 
too  ridiculous  to  obtain  credence  with  a 
people  excited  and  suspicious. 

The  former  King  Radama  showed  his 
shrewdness  in  giving  permission  to  the 
missionaries  to  reside  in  his  country,  for 
he  expressly  stipulated  that  some  of  ^them 
should  be  skilled  artisans,  so  that  his  peo 
ple  might  be  instructed  in  weaving,  smith- 
work,  carpentry,  etc.  To  this  the  society 
wisely  assented,  and  a  number  of  Chris 
tian  artisans  were  sent  out.  The  influence 
of  these  were  of  immense  value,  and  to 
them  is  to  be  attributed  much  of  the  skill 
of  the  Madagascar  workman  of  today. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  manifest  util 
ity  of  their  work  did  much  to  win  for  the 
mission  a  measure  of  tolerance  from  the 
heathen  rulers  of  the  country.  One  of  the 
missionaries  with  great  mechanical  skill, 
in  his  "Recollections,"  states  that  Queen 
Ranavalona  in  1830  was  beginning  to  feel 
uneasy  about  the  growing  influence  of  for 
eign  ideas  and  wished  to  get  rid  of  the  mis 
sionaries.  She  sent  officers  to  carry  her 
message,  and  the  missionaries  were  gath 
ered  together  to  meet  the  messengers,  and 
were  told  that  they  had  been  a  long  time 
in  the  country  and  had  taught  much,  and 
that  it  was  time  for  them  to  think  of  re 
turning  to  their  native  land.  The  mission- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  269 

aries,  alarmed  at  this  message,  answered 
that  they  had  only  begun  to  teach  some 
of  the  elements  of  knowledge,  and  that 
very  many  more  remained  to  be  imported, 
mentioning  sundry  branches  of  education, 
amon'g  which  were  Greek  and  Hebrew7  lan 
guages,  which  had  already  been  taught  to 
some.  The  messengers  returned  to  the 
Queen,  and  soon  came  back  with  the  an 
swer:  "The  Queen  does  not  care  much  for 
Greek  and  Hebrew.  Can  you  teach  how  to 
make  soap?"  (And  if  cleanliness  is  akin  to 
godliness  she  was  evidently  groping  in  the 
right  direction.)  This  was  an  awkward 
question  to  address  theologians;  almost  as- 
much  so  as  "Do  you  know  enough  to  come 
in  out  of  the  rain?"  to  some  college  grad 
uates;  but  after  a  moment's  pause  Mr. 
Griffith  turned  to  Mr.  Cameron  and  asked 
him  if  he  could  answer  it.  "Give  me  a 
week,"  and  it  was  given,  and  when  the 
messengers  again  met  at  the  close  of  the 
week  a  bar  of  tolerable  good  white  soap, 
made  from  materials  found  in  the  country, 
was  presented.  This  was  entirely  satis 
factory,  and  the  manufacture  of  soap  wa& 
forthwith  introduced,  and  is  still  continued 
to  the  present  day.  This  bar  of  soap  gained 
the  missionaries  a  respite  of  five  years,  the 
Queen  tolerating  their  presence  on  account 
of  material  advantage  derived  from  the 
work  of  the  artisans.  In  believing  that  in 
dustrial  training,  the  knowledge  to  make 
things  in  demand,  was  the  first  necessary 


270  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

step  for  the  elevation  of  her  people,  the 
Queen  was  eminently  correct. 

During  the  fifteen  years  (from  1820  to 
1835)  the  mission  was  allowed  to  exist  it 
was  estimated  that  10,000  to  15,000  chil 
dren  passed  through  school,  so  that  when 
the  missionaries  were  compelled  to  leave 
the  island  there  were  thousands  who  had 
learned  to  read,  and  thereby  raised  far 
above  the  mass  of  their  heathen  fellow- 
countrymen. 

Dark  Days — January,  1835,  a  formal 
complaint  was  presented  to  the  mission 
aries  by  one  of  the  Queen's  officers  against 
the  Christian  religion  under  six  different 
heads.  Excitement  increased  and  opposi 
tion  to  the  new  teaching  grew  bolder.  The 
Queen,  in  passing  a  native  chapel  and  hear 
ing  singing,  was  heard  to  say:  "They  will 
not  stop  till  some  of  them  lose  their 
heads.'7 

On  the  first  of  March,  1835,  the  edict 
publicly  prohibiting  the  Christian  religion 
was  delivered  in  the  presence  of  thousands 
of  people  who  had  been  summoned  to  hear 
it.  The  place  of  meeting  was  a  large  open 
space  lying  to  the  west  of  the  long  hill  on 
which  the  city  of  Antananarivo  is  built, 
and  large  enough  to  contain  two  or  more 
thousand  people.  In  the  middle  of  the  plain 
crops  up  a  large  mass  of  granite  rock,  on 
which  only  royal  persons  were  allowed  to 
stand;  hence  probably  the  name  "Imo- 
hamosine,"  which  means  "having  power  to 
make  sacred."  There  from  time  to  time 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  27,1 

large  public  assemblies  have  been  held,  but 
never  one  of  greater  significance  or  of  more 
far-reaching1  issues  than  that.  Of  this 
great  "kabary,"  or  meeting,  notices  had 
been  sent  far  and  wide.  All  possible  meas 
ures  had  been  taken  to  inspire  the  people 
with  awe  and  to  make  them  feel  that  a 
proclamation  of  unusual  importance  was 
about  to  be  published.  Queen  Ranavalona 
seined  anxious  to  make  her  people  feel  that 
her  anger  was  burning  with  an  unwonted 
fury.  It  is  stated  that  morning  had  scarce 
ly  dawned  when  the  report  of  the  cannon 
intended  to  strike  terror  and  awe  into  the 
hearts  of  the  people  ushered  in  the  day  on 
which  the  will  and  power  of  the  sovereign 
of  Madagascar  to  punish  the  defenseless 
followers  of  Christ  was  to  be  declared.  Fif 
teen  thousand  troops  were  drawn  up,  part 
of  them  on  the  plain  and  the  rest  in  two 
lines  a  mile  in  length  along  the  road  lead 
ing  to  the  place.  The  booming  of  artillery 
from  the  high  ground  overlooking  the 
plain  and  the  reports  of  musketry  of  the 
troops,  Avhich  was  continued  during  the 
preparatory  arrangements,  produced 
among  the  multitude  the  most  intense  and 
anxious  feelings.  At  length  the  Chief  Jus 
tice,  attended  by  his  companions  in  office, 
advanced  and  delivered  the  message  of  the 
^Sovereign,  which  was  enforced  by  Rami- 
haro,  the  chief  officer  of  the  Government. 
After  expressing  the  Queen's  confidence  in 
the  idols,  and  her  determination  to  treat  as 


272  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

criminals  all  who  refused  to  do  them  hom 
age,  the  message  proceeded: 

"As  to  baptism,  societies,  places  of  wor 
ship,  and  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath- 
how  many  rulers  are  there  in  the  land?  Is 
it  not  I,  alone,  that  rule?  These  things  are 
not  to  be  done.  They  are  unlawful  in  my 
country,'7  said  the  Queen,  "for  they  are  not 
the  customs  of  our  ancestors.'7 

As  a  result  of  this  "kabary"  400  officers 
were  reduced  in  rank  and  fines  were  paid 
for  2,000  others,  and  thus  Avas  ushered  in 
a  persecution  which  lasted  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

The  l\ev.  William  Ellis,  on  English  mis 
sionaries,  in  his  book  entitled  "Madagas 
car  lievisited,"  states  that  the  first  martyr 
for  Christ  who  suffered  there  in  1836  was 
"Kosolama."  She  was  a  Christian  woman, 
between  twenty  and  thirty  years  of  age, 
bearing  no  common  name,  for  Rosolama 
signifies  peace  and  happiness.  She  was 
imprisoned  at  Ambotonakonga,  the  site  of 
the  first  house  built  exclusively  for  Chris 
tian  worship  in  the  country.  A  memorial 
church  has  been  erected  on  the  spot.  When 
brought  to  the  place  she  knelt  down  and 
asked  a  few  minutes  to  pray.  This  was 
granted,  and  then  her  body  fell,  pierced 
with  the  spears  of  her  executioners. 

The  second  martyr,  Ixayfarolahy,  a  young 
man,  suffered  on  the  same  place  some  time 
after.  At  the  request  of  Eosolama  when 
she  was  taken  forth  to  death  he  had 
walked  by  her  side  to  the  place  of  execu- 


KEY.  J.  P.  ROBINSON. 
Pastor  of  First  Baptist  Church,  Little  Rock,  Arkansas. 


Eminent    a> 


Successful   I'roaeher.  with  Mach  Originality 
and   Strength   of  Convictions. 


>f  Thought 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  273 

tion  and  offered  words  of  encouragement 
to  her  to  the  last.  When  brought  to  the 
place  himself  the  executioners  seized  him 
and  were  about,  as  was  their  custom,  to 
forcibly  throw  him  down,  he  said  to  them 
calmly,  "There  is  no  need  to  do  that;  I 
will  not  cause  any  trouble."  He  also  asked 
to  be  allowed  to  pray,  and  then  gently  laid 
himself  down  and  received  the  execution 
ers'  spears.  The  measures  taken  to  destroy 
Christianity  were  not  at  all  times  equally 
severe.  The  years  that  stand  out  with 
special  prominence  are  1835,  1837,  1840, 
1849  and  1857.  Of  what  took  place  in  1840 
was  depicted  at  the  time  in  a  letter  writ 
ten  by  Rev.  D.  Griffiths,  who  was  then  re 
siding  at  Antananarivo.  The  nine  con1 
demned  Christians  were  taken  past  Mr. 
Griffiths'  house.  "Ramonisa,"  he  says, 
"looked  at  me  and  smiled;  others  also 
looked  at  me,  and  their  faces  shone  like 
those  of  angels  in  the  posture  of  prayer  and 
wrestling  with  God.  They  were  too  Aveak 
to  walk,  having  been  without  rice  or  water 
for  a  long  time.  The  people  on  the  wall 
and  in  the  yard  before  our  house  were 
cleared  off  by  the  swords  and  spears  of 
those  leading  them  to  execution.  That  we 
might  have  a  clear,  full  and  last  sight  of 
them,  they  were  presented  opposite  the  bal 
cony  on  the  road  and  at  the  entrance  of  the 
yard  for  about  ten  minutes,  carried  on 
poles  by  the  executioners,  with  merely  a 
hand  breadth  of  cloth  to  cover  them,  they 

(18) 


274  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

were  then  led  away  'to  execution.  The  can 
non  fired  to  announce  their  death  was 
shattered  to  pieces,  and  the  gunners' 
clothes  burnt,  Avhich  was  considered  omi 
nous,  many  whispering  "Thus  will  the  king 
dom  of  Ranavalona  Manjaka  be  shattered 
to  pieces.' ' 

In  1849  what  may  be  called  the  great 
persecution  took  place;  not  less  than  1,900 
persons  suffered  persecution  of  various 
kinds — fines,  imprisonment,  chains,  or 
forced  labor  in  the  quarries.  Of  this  num 
ber  18  suffered  death,  four,  of  noble  birth, 
by  being  burned,  and  14  by  being  thrown 
over  the  great  precipice  of  Ampomariuona. 
It  is  not  easy  to  estimate  exactly  the  num 
ber  of  those  who  suffered  the  punishment 
of  death  in  these  successive  outbursts  of 
persecution.  It  is  most  probable  the  vic 
tims  were  between  seventy  or  eighty.  But 
these  form  only  a  small  portion  of  the  total 
number  of  sufferers.  Probably  hundreds 
of  others  died  from  their  heavy  irons, 
chains,  or  from  fevers,  severe  forced  labor, 
or  privations  during  the  time  they  were 
compelled  to  hide  in  caves  or  in  the  depths 
of  the  forests. 

Notwithstanding  the  severe  persecution 
much  quiet  Christian  work  was  carried  on 
in  the  lulls  between  storms — sometimes  on 
hilltops,  sometimes  in  caves,  or  even  in  un 
finished  tombs.  Thus  the  story  of  the 
Covenanters  was  repeated,  and  the  impos 
sibility  of  destroying  the  Christian  faith 
by  persecution  again  shown.  Through 


CHRISTIAN  MARTYR, 
In  Madagascar  in  chains— Receiving  consolation. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  275 

these  long  years  of  persecution  the  Chris 
tians  were  constantly  receiving  accessions 
to  their  ranks,  and  the  more  they  were  op 
posed  "the  more  they  multiplied  and 
i»Te\v.v 

The  year  18G1  will  ever  be  a  period  from 
Avhich  date  results  momentous  in  behalf  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  for  the  Negro. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  Negro 
slavery  in  the  United  States  and  the  per 
manent  establishment  of  religious  freedom 
in  Madagascar.  Queen  Ranavalona  had  a 
long  reign  of  thirty-three  years,  but  in  that 
.year  it  became  evident  she  could  not  reign 
much  longer.  Natives  give  details  of  her 
last  days.  The  aged  Queen  had  for  some 
time  been  suffering  in  health;  diviners  had 
been  urgently  consulted,  charms  and  po 
tent  herbs  had  been  empdoyed,  with  no 
-avail.  Late  in  the  summer  of  1861  it  be 
came  generally  known  that  the  fatal  mo 
ment  could  not  long  be  delayed.  Mys 
terious  fires  were  said  to  be  seen  on  the 
tops  of  mountains  surrounding  the  capital, 
and  a  sound  like  music  was  rising  from 
latry  to  Andohalo.  The  Queen  eagerly 
questioned  those  around  her  as  to  the 
meaning  of  these  portents.  But  while  the 
dying  Queen  was  anxiously  praying  to  the 
idol  in  which  she  placed*  her  trust,  there 
were  those  who  whispered  to  the  prince 
that  the  fire  Avas  the  sign  of  jubilee  to  bring 
together  the  dispersed,  and  to  redeem  the 
lost,  and  so  the  event  proved. 


276  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

The  aged  Queen  passed  away  during  the 
night  of  August  15,  1861,  and  early  on  the 
morning  of  August  16  the  news  spread 
rapidly  through  the  capital,  and  her  son 
was  proclaimed  as  Eadama  II.  One  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  new  sovereign  was  to  pro 
claim  religious  liberty.  The  chains  were 
struck  off  from  the  persecuted  Christians 
and  the  banished  were  recalled.  Many 
came  back  who  had  long  been  in  banish 
ment  or  in  hiding,  and  their  return  seemed 
to  friends  who  had  supposed  them  to  be 
dead  like  a  veritable  resurrection. 

The  joy  of  the  Christian  was  intense.  The 
long  season  of  repression  had  at  last  come 
to  an  end.  Now  it  \vas  no  longer  a  crime 
to  meet  for  Christian  worship,  or  to  possess 
Christian  books.  On  that  first  Friday  even 
ing  some  of  the  older  Christians  met  and 
spent  the  night  in  prayer,  and  Sunday 
services  were  begun  in  eleven  private 
houses;  but  these  were  soon  consolidated 
into  three  large  congregations.  Kadama 
II  eagerly  welcomed  intercourse  with  for 
eigners  and  gave  Christians  permission  to 
write  at  once,  urging  that  missionaries  be 
sent  out,  himself  writing  to  the  London 
Missionary  Society  making  the  same  re 
quest.  The  society  responded  promptly 
with  a  large  band  of  men  and  women  mis 
sionaries,  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  copies 
of  the  Bible,  New  Testament  and  tracts. 

The  result  of  three-quarters  of  a  century 
of  Christian  work  in  Madagascar  has  been 
that  the  Christian  religion  has  taken  firm 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  277 

hold  on  the  people.  Manifest  and  notice 
able  are  the  number  and  prominence  of 
church  buildings  in  and  around  the  cap 
ital.  There  are  four  stone  memorial 
churches,  built  by  the  friends  of  the  Lon 
don  Missionary  Society  to  remind  coming 
generations  of  the  fidelity  of  the  mar 
tyrs,  and  a  very  fine  and  well  sit 
uated  Roman  Catholic  cathedral  in 
Ambodin  Andaholo.  Prominent  as  Chris 
tian  agencies  in  Madagascar  are  "The  So 
ciety  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel," 
who  sent  out  Bishop  Kestel  Cornish  and 
James  Coles;  "The  Norwegian  Missionary 
Society,"  "The  Roman  Catholic  Missionary 
Society,"  and  "The  Society  of  Friends  in 
England." 

To  summarize,  approximately  there  are 
now  110  foreign  missionaries  on  the  island ; 
over  2,000  congregations,  with  a  total  of 
400,000  adherents,  which  include  100,000 
church  members;  while  the  Protestant 
schools  contain  150,000  children.  No  state 
ment  of  the  Christianizing  agencies  and  in 
fluences  would  be  just  or  correct  that  did 
not  include  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  "No  one,"  it  has  been  truly  said, 
"can  be  long  in  Madagascar  without  learn 
ing  to  admire  the  self-denial,  patience  and 
heroic  fortitude  with  which  its  work  is  car 
ried  on."  It  has  been  thus  fittingly  de 
scribed,  a  few  years  ago,  by  an  English 
visitor:  "In  1861,  when  Catholic  mission 
aries  landed  on  the  shores  of  Tamatave 
there  was  not  a  Catholic  on  the  island;  but 


278  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

little  by  little,  by  dint  of  unwearied  labor, 
suffering  and  preaching,  they  won  over  not 
hundreds  but  thousands  of  pagans  to  the 
love  and  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  His 
truth,  so  that  their  pagan  converts  num 
ber  over  130,000.  They  have  built  a  mag 
nificent  cathedral,  which  is  the  glory  and 
pride  of  Antananarivo.  They  have  also 
800  churches  and  400  or  more  Catholic  sta 
tions  scattered  over  the  island,  where 
18,000  children  are  taught  and  trained  by 
a  large  and  elevated  staff  of  Christian 
brothers  and  sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  and  641 
native  teachers.  They  have  also  created  in 
dustrial  schools,  where  various  trades  are 
taught  by  two  devoted  brothers,  Benjamin 
and  Arnoad,  and  at  Ambohipo  they  have 
a  flourishing  college  for  young  Mala  gash. 
They  have  also  on  the  island  four  large  dis 
pensaries,  where  thousands  of  prescrip 
tions  are  distrubuted  gratis  to  all  who  seek 
to  relieve  their  sufferings.  They  have  also 
established  a  leper  hospital  at  Ambohivo- 
raka,  where  the  temporal  and  spiritual 
wants  of  150  poor  lepers  are  freely  admin 
istered  to,  and  have  already  opened  an 
other  such  establishment,  in  Betsilio  land. 
Prison  visitation,  dispensing  rice,  clothing, 
and  spiritual  instruction  to  half-starved 
and  naked  prisoners  under  the  Madagascar 
rule;  their  catalogue  of  books  devotional, 
literary  and  scientific;  a  dictionary,  all  of 
which  have  been  edited  and  published  in 
the  Madigascan  language,  are  among  the 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  279 

golden  contributions  for  civilization  by  the 
Catholics  in1  this  far-off  island  continent  in 
the  Indian  seas." 

In  referring  to  their  labors,  and  to  which, 
comparatively,  I  have  made  but  brief  refer 
ence,  Mr.  Cousins  says:  "To  much  in  the 
Koman  Catholic  system  we  may  be  stren 
uously  opposed;  but  to  their  zeal,  their 
skill,  their  patience,  their  self-denial,  we 
render  the  homage  of  an  ungrudging  ad 
miration." 

The  foregoing  were  the  labors  and  re 
sults  of  missionary  effort  up  to  the  date  of 
the  French  taking  absolute  possession  of 
the  island.  It  is  to  be  hoped  there  will  be 
no  retrograde  movement  lessening  the  ef 
ficiency  of  these  civilizing  agencies.  Al 
though  it  is  alleged  that  French  control 
and  influence  in  Tahiti  and  other  South  Sea 
islands  have  been  averse  to  both  morality 
and  evangelical  Christianity,  and  hence 
there  are  not  wanting  those  who  predict 
incumbrances  in  missionary  work,  now 
French  authority  is  established.  But  in 
this  age  of  progress  along  all  the  lines  of 
human  endeavor  the  French  Government 
will  undoubtedly  see  the  justice  an<J  utility 
of  governing  with  a  regard  to  the  advance 
ment  of  these  wards  that  the  prowess  of 
its  arms  have  committed  to  its  care.  It  is 
not  unreasonable  to  expect,  and  the  prom 
ise  should  be  flattering,  that  with  the 
European  ideas  of  the  proper  functions  of 
government,  the  incipient  steps  for  the 
mental  culture  of  the  natives,  present  evi- 


.280  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

dence  of  large  expenditure  and  introduc 
tion  of  the  most  modern  applications  for 
.the  physical  development  of  the  island,  the 
Madigascan  people  will  attain  in  the  fu 
ture  a  higher  degree  of  human  advance 
ment  from  contact  with  the  civilization  of 
the  French  than  it  was  possible  they  could 
have  under  "Hova  rule.77  And  in  this  con 
nection  it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  "The 
[Native  Kace  Protection  Committee/7  head 
ed  by  Mr.  Paul  Viollet,  of  the  Paris  Insti 
tute,  in  June,  1899,  addressed  an  appeal  to 
the  Colonial  Minister  in  behalf  of  the  Mala- 
gash,  entreating  him  to  shorten  the  forced 
labor,  to  reduce  the  taxes,  and  to  annul  de 
crees,  which  greatly  re-established  slavery. 
The  appeal  dwelt  on  the  fearful  mortal 
ity  occasioned  by  forced  labor  on  the  roads, 
which  threatened  to  reduce  the  most  ro 
bust  population  of  the  highlands  as  to  de 
bar  colonists  from  commercial  and  agricul 
tural  enterprises,  and  very  pertinently  asks 
-"Is  it  not  better  to  be  without  roads  than 
without  a  healthy  population?77  The  ap 
peal  also  denounced  arbitrary  acts.  "The 
native,77  it  is  said,  "is  arrested  and  impris 
oned  for  months  without  a  trial,  and  this 
with  all  the  less  forbearance,  as  the  pris 
oner  is  always  utilized  as  an  economic  la 
borer.77  The  justice  of  this  appeal  and 
prompt  reception  and  accord  with  the 
French  conscience  was  evidenced  in  the 
public  announcement  to  the  natives  by 
Oen.  Galliena,  the  Governor  of  Madagas 
car,  a  few  months  later,  that  forced  labor 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  281 

•would  be  discontinued  after  January  1, 
1900,  and  thereafter  they  could  work  for 
whom  they  pleased,  and  if  for  govern 
ment  they  would  be  paid  wages  agreed  to. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  proclama 
tion  was  received  by  the  natives  with  tu 
multuous  rejoicing.  Forced  labor  is  now 
abolished,  and  the  natives  rejoice  in  a  jubi 
lee  from  a  servitude  the  most  galling. 


282  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  adaptability  of  the  Negro  to  condi 
tions  that  are  at  the  time  inevitable  has 
been  the  paladium  that  has  sustained  and 
multiplied  him  amid  the  determined  preju 
dice  that  has  ever  assailed  him.  The  In 
dian,  unassimilating,  combatted  the  preju 
dice  of  caste  by  physical  force,  and  has 
been  well  nigh  extinguished,  while  the 
Negro  has  bowed  to  the  inevitable  with 
the  mental  reservation  to  rise  to  a  higher 
recognition  by  a  persistent  assimilation  of 
the  forces  that  disenthralled  and  exalted 
the  Saxon. 

The  foregoing  chapter,  indicating  the 
policy  of  the  French  in  their  occupation 
and  dealing  with  Madagascar,  the  planting 
of  a  nation's  authority  and  establishing  a 
colony  on  the  ruins  of  a  weaker  power,  or 
of  subject  races,  under  the  plea  of  human 
ity,  or  through  the  chicanery  of  diplomacy, 
has  ever  been  the  rule  when  territory  has 
been  desired  by  a  stronger  power.  The 
proximity  of  Cuba  to  the  States,  and  Span 
ish  misrule  of  that  island,  and  also  of  the 
Philippines,  were  the  "open  sesame,"  it  is 
alleged,  that  beckoned  the  armed  force  of 
the  United  States  to  take  possession.  But 
in  truth  the  Spanish  jewel,  Cuba,  shone  in 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


the  distance,  "so  near,  and  yet  so  far'- — so 
near  for  mischievous  complication,  and  so 
far  for  material  and  diplomatic  control. 
With  a  vicious  administration  by  a  nation 
of  decaying  prestige  were  all  elements 
promising  success  to  the  invader.  The 
covert  and  dastardly  destruction  of  the  U. 
S.  warship  "Maine"  in  Cuban  waters,  the 
offspring  of  Spanish  suspicion  of  American 
designs,  was  all,  and  more  than  required, 
to  inaugurate  a  "causi  belli"  and  complete 
the  conquest  of  the  island.  To  claim  that 
these  movements  had  their  incipiency  in 
a  consensus  of  desire  of  the  American  peo 
ple  for  justice  to  subject  races,  and  was 
solely,  or  even  mainly,  on  account  of  Span 
ish  tyranny,  is  a  statement  that  will  not 
bear  investigation  for  moral  consistency. 
It  being  the  very  antipodes  of  their  current 
behavior  to  a  large  class  of  citizens  born 
beneath  the  pinions  of  their  eagle  of  free 
dom  at  home. 

For  how  does  it  happen  that  the  alien 
Cuban  and  Filipino  colored  brothers  are  so 
much  more  entitled  to  protection  and 
the  enjoyment  of  civil  and  political  rights 
than  the  colored  American  brother,  that 
thousands  of  lives  and  millions  of  treasure 
must  be  expended  to  establish  that  human 
ity  and  justice  abroad  denied  by  these 
"world  reformers"  to  millions  of  their  citi 
zens  at  home?  Eeally,  it  would  seem  that 
to  duty  and  the  bestowal  of  justice  'tis  "dis 
tance  that  lends  enchantment  to  the  view." 
"Wherever  you  see  a  head,  hit  it,"  was  the 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

slogan  of  Pat,  at  Donnybrook  Fair,  and 
wherever  there  has  been  a  territorial  plum 
ripe  in  its  loneliness,  and  tempting  in  its 
lusciousness,  there  has  not  been  wanting  a 
"grabber."  It  was  the  French  in  Mada 
gascar,  the  English  in  Africa,  and  the 
Americans  in  the  Antilles.  "O!  civiliza 
tion;  what  crimes  are  committed  in  thy 
name!"  The  record  of  our  stewardship  is 
in  the  tomb  of  the  future  for  the  coming 
historian  to  "point  a  moral  or  adorn  a 
tale." 

The  acquisition  of  new  territory,  when 
honorably  acquired,  is  ever  attended  with 
peculiar  conditions  and  vicissitudes.  The 
transformation  of  the  population  of  which 
into  a  desirable  element  of  the  body  politic 
depends  much  upon  the  wisdom  of  the 
statesman,  and  the  insistence  of  moral 
rectitude  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  and 
philanthropist  whether  it  shall  be  a  bless 
ing  or  an  evil  to  both  parties  in  interest. 

It  is  no  secret  that  in  many  minds  the 
motive  and  manner  of  acquiring  the  Philip 
pines  are  open  to  much  disparaging  com 
ment.  We  are  charged  with  wresting  by 
superior  force  that  independence  that  a 
weak  but  heroic  people  were  and  had  been 
for  ten  years  struggling  to  attain  from  the 
Spanish  yoke;  that  we,  whom  they  hailed 
as  an  assistant  and  in  good  faith  co-op 
erated  with  in  turn,  became  their  hostile 
enemies  and  destroyed  that  identity  as  an 
independent  entity  for  which  they  fought. 

The  conditions  which  confronted  Asfiii- 


CHESTER   W.   KEATTS, 

Grand  Master  "Mosaic  Tempi! 
Born  in  Pulaski  County,   Arkansas,  in  I860 — Far  Many  Years  Prominent  iu  the 
Mail  Service  of  that  State — Broad  in  His  Sympathies,   ami   Strong  as 
mi  Advocate  for  the  Beneficent  Principles  of  the  Insti-  > 

tution  of  which  He  is  the  Head. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  285 

naldo  as  the  leader  of  the  Philippine  revo 
lution  have  been  vividly  described  by  a 
writer  of  English  history:  "With  the  states 
man  in  revolutionary  times,  it  is  not 
through  decisive  moments  that  seemed 
only  trivial,  and  by  important  turns  that 
semed  indifferent;  for  he  explores  dark  and 
untried  paths;  groping  his  way  through  a 
jungle  of  vicissitudes,  ambush  and  strat- 
egem;  expedient,  a  match  for  fortune  in  all 
her  moods.  Regardless  of  what  has  been 
called  'history's  severe  and  scathing  touch/ 
we  cannot  forget  the  torrid  air  of  revolu 
tionary  times,  the  blinding  sand  storms  of 
faction,  the  suspicions,  jealousies  and  ha 
treds,  the  distinctions  of  mood  and  aim,  the 
fierce  play  of  passions  that  put  an  hourly 
strain  of  untold  intensity  on  the  constancy, 
the  prudence,  and  the  valor  of  a  leader/' 

No  one  can  read  the  state  papers  and 
proclamations  of  Aguinaldo  without  being 
impressed  with  his  ability  as  a  leader,  the 
intensity  of  his  patriotism  and  honesty  of 
purpose  depicted  for  the  independence  of 
his  country  from  Spanish  rule.  The  states 
manship  he  displayed,  the  intelligent  and 
liberal  conception  of  constitutional  govern 
ment,  and  the  needs  and  aspirations  of  his 
people,  are  at  variance  with  the  allegation 
that  the  Filipinos  were  unfit  for  self-gov 
ernment. 

Hence  it  is  that  men  ask,  "Would  it  not 
have  been  national  nobility  of  a  high  order 
if  as  a  protector  we  should  have  given  them 
a  protectorate  instead  of  the  ignoble  action 


286  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

of  shooting  them  down  in  their  patriotic 
attempt?"  Indeed,  it  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  absolute  authority  obtained  by 
such  means,  together  with  current  Amer 
ican  usage  of  colored  races,  will  not  evolve 
the  fact  that  they  have  but  changed  mas 
ters.  For  here  in  our  own  hemisphere  .our 
country's  history  continues  to  be  rife  with 
lawlessness  at  the  bidding  of  a  vicious  sen 
timent,  and  in  some  sections  it  is  the  rule 
and  not  the  exception.  Free  from  the  re 
straint  of  law-abiding  localities  in  the 
States,  the  American  adventurer  of  lawless 
propensity  will  have  free  reign  in  bullying 
and  oppressing,  and  probable  partiality  in 
the  administration  of  the  law. 

George  E.  Horr,  the  able  editor  of  the 
"Watchman,"  under  "Treatment  to  Sub 
ject  Races,"  is  pointed  and  timely  when  he 
says:  "The  Englishman  who  emigrates  to 
an  English  colony  finds  that  he  comes  un 
der  the  same  laws  that  apply  to  the  na 
tives;  he  is  not  a  privileged  personage,  by 
virtue  of  the  fact  that  he  is  an  English 
man.  Law  is  enacted  and  executed  with 
absolute  impartiality.  In  India  a  native 
and  an  Englishman  stand  exactly  on  the 
same  plane  before  the  law.  Indeed,  in  many 
cases,  an  Englishman  will  be  tried  by  an 
Indian  judge.  The  British  have  not  suc 
ceeded  in  winning  the  affections  of  the  na 
tives,  but  the  natives  are  thoroughly  con- 
viced  the  Englishman  will  act  justly. 
There  will  not  be  (in  practice)  one  law  for 
European  and  another  for  the  native,  as  in 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  287 

too  many  cases  in  our  own  country  there 
is  one  law  for  the  white  man  and  another 
for  the  black  man." 

But  let  us  all  work,  hope  and  trust  that 
the  best  of  American  Christianity  and  civ 
ilization  may  be  equal  to  the  emergency, 
giving  the  Filipinos  a  larger  measure  of 
liberty  and  civil  rights  than  they  had  un 
der  the  erstwhile  rule  of  Spain. 

Under  a  constitutional  government  it  is 
premised  that  sustenance  and  valor  for 
"amor  patria"  proceeds  from  the  fact  that 
its  institutions  are  designed  as  bulwarks 
for  the  citizen's  liberty,  and  that  its  po 
litical  and  economic  features  are  such  as 
guarantee  equality  before  the  law  and  pro 
mote  an  equal  chance  in  the  race  of  life. 

That  there  is  a  degree  of  selfishness  in 
his  patriotism,  and  that  government  is  re 
vered  only  as  a  means  to  an  end,  is  evi 
denced  by  revolutionary  tendencies  ever 
uppermost  when  there  are  reasons  to  be 
lieve  that  these  benign  purposes  are  being 
thwarted.  But  if  for  wrongs,  the  return  be 
fidelity,  for  obloquy  patience,  for  maltreat 
ment  loyalty,  be  a  high  type  of  Christian 
ethics,  the  reflex  influence  of  which,  we 
read,  are  God-like;  surely  the  Negro  has 
virtues  "not  born  to  die,"  presaging  an  en 
durance  that  must  evolve  out  of  this  nettle 
discomfort,  justice  and  contentment.  For, 
as  heretofore,  in  the  last  war  with  Spain, 
putting  behind  him  his  century  of  oppres 
sion  in  slavery,  and  the  vicious  discrimina 
tion  since  his  emancipation,  forgetful  of  all 


288  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

else  save  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  flag, 
there,  as,  always,  he  wrote  his  name  high 
up  on  the  roll  of  his  country's  heroes, 
"Our's  not  to  ask  the  reason  why;  our's  to 
do  or  die."  To  read  the  reports  of  com 
manders  and  other  officers,  and  the  narra 
tives  of  bystanders,  all  attesting  to  a 
bravery  invincible,  causes  the  blood  to  tin 
gle  and  the  patriot  heart  to  leap.  We  are 
making  history  replete  with  self-abnega 
tion  as  we  continue  to  bring  to  our  coun 
try's  altar  an  unstinted  devotion  and  bril 
liant  achievement.  These  take  their  places 
fittingly,  and  we  should  keep  them  in  the 
forefront  of  our  claim  for  equality  of  cit 
izenship. 

For  it  is  declared  that  "not  the  least  val 
uable  lesson  taught  by  the  war  with  Spain 
is  the  excellence  of  the  Negro  soldiery.  In 
the  battle  of  San  Juan,  near  Santiago,  a 
Negro  regiment  is  said  to  have  borne  the 
brunt  of  the  battle.  Three  companies  suf 
fered  nearly  as  seriously,  yet  they  re 
mained  steady  under  fire  without  an  offi 
cer.  The  war  has  not  shown  greater  hero 
ism.  In  the  battle  of  Guasimas  it  is  said 
by  some  of  the  "Rough  Eiders"  themselves 
that  it  was  the  brilliant  supporting  charge 
of  the  Tenth  Cavalry  that  saved  them  from 
destruction.  George  Rennon  writes:  "I 
do  not  hesitate  to  call  attention  to  the 
splendid  behavior  of  the  colored  troops." 
It  is  the  testimony  of  all  who  saw  them  un 
der  fire  that  they  fought  with  the  utmost 
courage,  coolness  and  determination;  and 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  289 

Colonel  Koosevelt  said  to  a  squad  of  them 
in  the  trenches  in  my  presence  that  he 
never  expected  to  have  and  could  not  ask 
to  have  better  men  beside  him  in  a  hard 
fight.  If  soldiers  come  up  to  Colonel  Koose- 
velt's  standard  of  courage,  their  friends 
have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  them. 
His  commendation  is  equivalent  to  a  medal 
of  honor  for  conspicuous  gallantry,  be 
cause,  in  the  slang  of  the  camp,  he  is  him 
self  a  fighter  ufrom  way  back."  I  can  tes 
tify,  furthermore,  from  my  own  personal 
observation  in  the  hospital  of  the  Fifth 
Army  Corps,  Saturday  and  Sunday  night, 
that  the  colored  regulars  who  were  brought 
in  there  displayed  extraordinary  fortitude 
and  self-control.  There  were  a  great  many 
of  them,  but  I  cannot  remember  to  have 
heard  a  groan  or  complaint  from  a  single 
man. 

General  Miles  is  quoted  as  favoring  an 
increased  number  of  colored  soldiers  in  the 
United  States  service.  He  said  that  "iii  no 
instance  had  they  failed  to  do  their  full 
duty  in  this  war,  or  in  the  campaigns  in  the 
West;  in  short,  they  were  model  soldiers  in 
every  respect;  not  only  in  courage  have 
they  done  themselves  credit,  but  in  their 
conduct  as  well." 

When  the  Second  Volunteer  regiment  of 
Inmiunes  (white)  became  so  disorderly  in 
Santiago  that  they  had  to  be  sent  outside 
to  the  hills  for  better  discipline,  General 
Shafter  ordered  into  the  city  the  Eighth 

(19) 


290  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

Illinois  regiment  of  colored  troops,  who 
had  an  unsullied  name  for  sobriety  and  dis 
cipline,  and  enjoyed  the  thorough  confi 
dence  of  those  in  command.  And  the  fol 
lowing  brief  compendium  of  Spanish  war 
mention  from  a  few  of  the  leading  press  of 
the  country  is  good  reading.  A  soldier 
writing  home  to  friends  in  Springfield 
said:  "You  want  to  see  the  Negroes;  they 
let  out  a  yell  and  charge,  and  the  fight  is 
oA'er."  Arthur  Partridge,  of  Co.  B,  writes: 
"At  first  we  got  the  worst  of  it,  but  we  re 
ceived  reinforcements  from  the  two  regi 
ments  of  colored  infantry,  who  walked 
right  up  to  the  block  house,  against  their 
whole  fire;  they  lost  heavily,  but  it  put 
heart  into  everybody,  and  the  way  we 
drove  those  Spaniards  was  a  caution.  A 
colored  man  can  have  anything  of  mine  he 
wants.  When  storming  they  yelled  like 
fiends.-1  Corporal  Keating  of  Co.  B  writes: 
"The  Negroes  are  fighters  from  their  toes 
up.  They  saved  Roosevelt  at  the  first  bat 
tle,  and  took  one  of  the  forts  in  the  battle 
a  few  days  ago/' 

Thomas  Holmes,  a  Rough  Rider,  who 
hails  from  Newkirk,  Oklahoma,  was  the 
magnet  of  attraction  at  St.  Paul's  Hospi 
tal,  says  a  writer  in  the  New  York  Tribune. 
"He  is  a  handsome,  stalwart  fellow,  full  of 
anecdote  and  good  humor,  and  popular  all 
around.  He  Avas  sitting  next  to  Corporal 
Johnson,  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry,  a  Negro 
who  still  carries  a  Mauser  bullet  some 
where  'inside  of  me  inside/  as  he  expressed 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  291 

it.  'The  colored  cavalry  fought  well,  eh?' 
interjected  the  clergyman.  'Indeed  they 
did/  said  Holmes,  fervently.  'That  old  idea 
about  a  "yellow  streak"  being  in  a  Negro 
is  all  wrong.  No  men  could  have  fought 
more  bravely,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that 
but  for  the  coming  up  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry 
the  Rough  Eiders  might  have  been  cut  to 
pieces.'  'Oh,  he  is  just  talking/  said  the 
colored  man,  who  smiled  like  a  happy  child 
nevertheless." 

Says  the  "Philadelphia  Daily  Press:"  "At 
every  forward  movement  in  our  national 
life  the  Negro  comes  to  the  front  and 
shares  in  the  advance  with  each  national 
expansion.  He  does  his  part  of  the  work, 
and  deserves  equal  recognition.  At  San 
tiago  two  Negro  regiments — the  Ninth,  in 
General  Sumner's  Brigade,  and  the  Tenth, 
in  General  Bates' — were  at  the  front  in  the 
center  of  the  line.  With  the  rest  they 
crested  the  heights  of  San  Juan;  with  the 
rest  they  left  their  men  thickly  scattered 
on  the  slope,  and  since  they  shared  in 
death  every  member  of  the  race  has  a  right 
to  ask  that  in  life  no  rights  be  denied  and 
no  privileges  curtailed.  The  white  regi 
ments  that  connected  them  in  that  thin 
blue  line,  that  slender  hoop  of  steel  which 
hemmed  in  more  than  its  opposing  num 
ber,  may  have  held  men  who  hesitate  about 
this  and  that,  contact  with  color;  but  on 
that  Saturday  afternoon  and  Sunday 
morning,  when  risk  and  peril  hung  heavy 
over  the  line,  there  was  no  hesitation  in 


292  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

closing  up  ou  the  Ninth  and  Tenth  Regi 
ments,  because  the  men  in  them  were  col 
ored.  All  honor  to  the  black  troops  of  the 
gallant  Tenth." 

Says  the  "New  York  Mail  and  Express :"' 
"No  more  striking  example  of  bravery  and 
coolness  has  been  shown  since  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  Maine  than  by  the  colored  vet 
erans  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry  during  the  at 
tack  on  Fort  Caney  of  Saturday.  By  the 
side  of  the  intrepid  'Rough  Riders'  they 
followed  their  leader  up  the  terrible  hill 
from  whose  crest  the  desperate  Spaniards 
poured  down  a  deathly  tire  of  shell  and 
musketry.  They  never  faltered;  the  rents 
in  their  ranks  were  filled  as  soon  as  made. 
Firing  as  they  marched,  their  aim  was 
splendid,  their  coolness  superb,  and  their 
courage  aroused  the  admiration  of  their 
comrades.  Their  advance  was  greeted 
with  wild  cheers  from  the  white 
regiments,  and  with  an  ansAvering 
shout  they  pressed  onward  over  the 
trenches  they  had  taken  close  in  pursuit  of 
the  retreating  enemy.  The  war  has  not 
shown  greater  heroism.  The  men  whose 
freedom  was  baptised  in  blood  have  proven 
themselves  capable  of  giving  their  lives 
that  others  may  be  free.  Today  is  a  glor 
ious  'Fourth'  for  all  races  of  people  in  thi& 
great  land." 

The  "New  Orleans  Item"  gives  its  con 
temporary,  the  "States,"  the  following 
spanking  (with  the  usual  interrogation^ 
"Now  will  you  be  good?"):  "The  'States" 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

has  evidently  failed  to  profit  by  the  ben 
eficial  lesson  taught  since  the  opening  of 
the  Santiago  campaign.  Had  our  esteemed 
contemporary  been  present  in  Richmond  a 
few  days  since,  when  the  form  of  a  Negro 
soldier  pierced  by  nine  Mauser  bullets  was 
tenderly  borne  through  the  streets  by  four 
.stalwart  white  infantry  men,  he  would 
have  heard  the  lustiest  cheers  that  ever 
went  up  from  the  throats  of  the  residents 
of  the  former  capital  of  the  Confederacy. 
Perhaps  our  anti-Negro  friend  would  have 
learned  wisdom  from  the  statement  of  a 
member  of  Roosevelt's  regiment,  who  de 
clared  in  an  interview  with  a  press  repre 
sentative,  that  had  it  not  been  for  the 
valiant  conduct  of  the  Negro  cavalry  at 
Baguiri  the  Rough  Riders  would  have 
found  the  routing  of  the  Spaniards  almost 
a  hopeless  task.  The  attack  of  the  'States' 
on  the  Negro  soldier  is  vicious>and  unpar 
donable.  There  is  -no  more  intrepid  or 
hardy  fighter  to  be  found  anywhere  than 
the  much -a  bused  descendant  of  Ham.  He 
has  dogged  persistence  and  a  determina 
tion  to  conquer  which  triumphs  over  all  ob 
stacles.  He  is  aware  of  his  social  inferiority 
and  never  seeks  to  attain  positions  of  emi 
nence  to  which  his  valor  and  his  spirit  of 
•daring  do  not  entitle  him.  The  'States' 
presents  one  of  the  most  rabid  cases  of  ne- 
grophobia  extant.  It  should  seek  an  imme 
diate  cure." 

Such  indorsements  from  the  white  press 
of  the  country  is  not  only  timely,  but  for 


294  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

all  time.  History  of  his  endurance  and 
endeavor  in  peace,  and  his  valor  in  Avar, 
stimulates  his  demand  and  strengthens  his 
claim  for  equal  justice.  Such  and  kindred 
books  as  "Johnson's  School  History  of  the 
Race  in  America"  should  be  prominent  as 
household  gods  in  every  Afro-American 
home,  that  along  the  realm  of  time  the 
vista  of  heroic  effort  "bequeathed  from  sire 
to  son"  may  gladden  hearts  in  "the  good 
time  coming;"  for  it  is  display  in  endur 
ance,  a  vigorous  courage,  a  gladsome  self- 
control,  a  triumphant  self-sacrifice,  that 
mankind  applaud  as  supreme  for  exalta 
tion,  and  the  highest  types  of  self-abnega 
tion  for  human  advancement;  for  "before 
man  made  us  citizens,  Great  Nature  made 
us  men." 

Equally  as  in  the  realm  of  war  has 
the  race  produced  its  noblemen  in  the 
arena  of  peace  and  mental  development. 
For,  if  it  be  true  that  "the  greatest  names 
in  history  are  those  who  in  the  full  career 
and  amid  the  turbid  extremities  of  political 
action,  have  yet  touched  the  closest  and  at 
most  points  the  ever-standing  problems  of 
the  world  and  the  things  in  which  the  in 
terests  of  men  never  die,"  our  industrial 
educators  are  fittingly  placed. 

Of  the  ever-standing  problem  of  the 
world,  and  in  which  mankind  is  ever  alert, 
is  the  struggle  for  survival,  and  he  that  by 
inspiring  word  and  untiring  deeds  leads 
the  deserving  poor  and  destitute  to  pros 
perity  and  contentment,  is  entitled  to  un- 


HON.  JOSIAH  T.  SETTLE,  A.  B.  A.  M. 

IJorn  in  Tennessee,  September,  1850 — Entered  Oberlin  College  in  1868— Graduated 
From  Howard  University,  1872— A  Leading  Member  of  the  Bar— Mem 
ber  of  State  Legislature  of  1883— Assistant  Attorney-General 
— For  Integrity   as   a   Man,    Learning  as  a   Jurist, 
and  Eloquence  of  Appeal,  He  Has  Made 
an  Honorable  Record. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  295 

stinted  praise  as  a  great  human  force  di 
rected  to  a  high  moral  purpose.  While  an 
advocate  for  the  higher  education  of  as 
many  of  the  race  who  have  the  will  or 
means  to  obtain  it,  for  the  majority,  after 
obtaining  a  good  English  education,  it 
should  be  immediately  supplemented  by  a 
trade,  to  labor  skillfully,  is  its  great  want 
today. 

The  question  has  been  asked:  "Can  any 
race  safely  exist  in  any  country  composed 
only  of  unskilled  laborers  and  professional 
men?  Must  not  the  future  leaders  of  our 
people  come  from  the  middle  classes,  from 
those  who  work  and  think?'7  Education 
to  be  of  practical  advantage  must  not  only 
sharpen  the  intellect,  but  it  must  be  of  that 
sort  that  will  enable  them  to  engage  in 
pursuits  and  avocations  above  those  of 
mere  drudgery;  those  that  are  more  lucra 
tive,  and  from  which  accumulate  wealth. 
The  school  room  must  be  the  stepping 
stone  to  a  good  trade.  The  statement  has 
been  made  (which  may  be  problematical) 
that  we  have  fewer,  comparatively,  very 
many  fewer,  mechanics  of  all  kinds  now 
than  we  had  in  the  days  of  slavery.  The 
master  knew  that  the  money  value  of  the 
slave  was  increased  in  the  ratio  of  his  effi 
ciency  as  a  skilled  laborer. 

To  the  credit  of  Kentucky,  Alabama,  Ar 
kansas  and  other  Southern  States,  they 
have  made  generous  provisions  for  indus 
trial  education  by  supplying  machinery 
and  the  most  modern  appliances  to  teach 


296  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

skilled  labor  to  those  who  prefer  them  to 
the  white  apron  of  the  waiter  or  the  grub 
bing-  hoe  of  the  plantation.  Of  the  stu 
dents  that  graduate  from  our  high  schools 
and  colleges  there  are  those  who  have  not 
the  qualities  of  head  and  heart  essential 
for  teaching  and  preaching,  including  a 
lov_e  and  devotion  to  those  callings,  and 
possibly  would  have  been  shining  marks 
had  their  studies  fitted  them  to  graple  with 
the  mercantile  or  industrial  factors  that 
promise  a  future  more  independent  and 
lucrative. 

The  advancement  of  any  race1  in  morals 
and  culture  is  retarded  when  poor  and  de 
pendent.  It  is  indespensable  to  progress 
that  it  has  the  benefit  of  earnings  laid  by. 
It  is  therefore  to  these  industrial  features 
that  we  must  look  for  the  foundation  of 
advancement  for  the  race.  It  will  not  be 
found  at  either  extreme  of  our  present  a  vo 
cations;  neither  the  attainment  of  the  pro 
fessions,  nor  devotion  to  menial  labor  will 
solve  the  problem  of  the  "better  way."  A 
greater  number  must  be  fitted  to  obtain 
work  more  lucrative  in  character  and  more 
ennobling  in  effect.  Institutions  of  applied 
science  and  business  pursuits  seem  to  me 
the  great  doorway  to  ultimate  success. 
Economy  and  industries  of  this  kind  will 
more  rapidly  produce  the  means  to  achieve 
that  higher  education  for  the  race  so  de 
sirable.  Morality,  learning  and  wealth  are 
i\  trio  invincible. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  297 

To  content  ourselves  with  denouncing  in 
justice  is  to  fail  to  enlist  the  economic  fea 
tures  so  necessary  as  assistants.  For  amid 
all  our  disadvantages  we  are  to  a  large  ex 
tent  arbiters  of  our  fortunes,  for  we  can 
by  an  indomitable  will  dispel  many,  many 
seeming  mountains  that  encumber  our 
way.  But  we  have  much  to  unlearn,  and 
especially  that  the  road  to  financial  pros 
perity  is  not  chiefly  the  dictum  of  the  fa 
cile  mouth,  but  through  the  manifestation 
of  skilled  hands  and  routine  of  business 
methods,  however  much  the  mouth  may 
attempt  to  compete,  conscious  of  its  wealth 
of  assertion  and  extent  of  capacity.  While 
it  is  eminently  proper  we  should  strive  for 
the  administration  of  equitable  laws  for 
our  protection,  it  should  be  ever  remem 
bered  that  while  local  laws  under  our  con 
stitutional  government  are  supposed  to  be 
the  equity  of  public  opinion,  for  us  they 
are  not  sustained  unless  in  harmony  with 
feelings  and  sentiments  of  their  environ 
ments.  Our  work  as  a  dependent  element 
is  plainly  to  use  such,  and  only  such,  meth 
ods  as  will  sustain  or  create  the  sentiment 
desired  by  a  fraternization  of  business  and 
material  interests.  This  we  cannot  do  either 
in  the  arena  of  politics  or  the  status  of  the 
menial  laborer.  For  in  the  one,  when  the 
polls  are  closed,  we  are  continuously  re 
minded  of  "Othello's  occupation  gone/'  In 
the  other,  the  abundance  of  raw  and  un 
couth  labor  robs  it  of  its  vitality  as  a  force 
to  compel  conditions. 


298  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  spirit  in  which  these  "schools  of 
trade"  have  been  conceived,  and  the  suc 
cess  of  their  conduct,  indicate  they  have 
struck  a  responsive  chord  in  the  communi 
ties  where  local  approval  is  a  necessity. 
Constituting  an  agreeable  counterpoise  to 
the  fixed  determination  of  the  white  people 
of  the  South  that  within  its  purview  the 
Negro,  however  worthy,  shall  not  occupy 
political  prominence.  This,  while  diamet 
rically  opposed  to  the  genius  and  spirit  of 
republican  government,  may  yet  be  the 
boomerang,  beneficent  in  its  return,  re 
dounding  to  his  advantage  by  turning  the 
current  of  his  aspirations  to  trades  and 
business  activities  rich  with  promise  of 
material  and  ennobling  fame.  From  this 
point  of  view  history  records  the  Jew  as  a 
shining  example.  The  Negro,  constitution 
ally  buoyant,  should  be  energetic  and  hope 
ful,  for  "there  is  a  destiny  that  shapes  our 
ends,'7  blunt  them  however  much  by 
damning  with  faint  praise"  or  apology  for 
oppression  from  whilom  friends.  In  the 
darkest  hour  of  slavery  and  ignorance 
came  freedom  and  education.  When  lynch- 
ings  became  prevalent,  lynching  of  whites 
made  it  unpopular;  when  disfranchisement 


SHADOW  AND    LIGHT.  299 

came,  debasing  him  in  localities  as  a  factor 
in  civil  government,  came  elevation  and 
high  honor  ungrudgingly  bestowed  for  he 
roic  deeds  by  commanders  of  the  national 
armies. 

President  McKinley,  in  his  order  for  the 
enlistment  and  promotion  of  the  colored 
soldier  in  the  Spanish  war,  added  addi 
tional  luster  to  his  page  in  history,  it  being 
an  act  the  result  of  which  has  been  of  in 
estimable  value  to  the  race.  Just  and  in 
spiring  is  the  speech  of  Hon.  Charles  H. 
Grosvenor,  of  Ohio,  delivered  at  the  close 
of  the  56th  Congress,  entitled  "The 
Colored  Citizen;  His  Share  in  the  Affairs 
of  the  Nation  in  the  Years  of  1897  to  1900. 
Fifteen  thousand  participated  in  the  war. 
The  President's  generous  treatment  of  col 
ored  men  in  the  military  and  civil  service 
of  the  Government." 

General  Grosvenor  commences  with  an 
exordium  eloquent  in  succinctness  and  no 
ble  in  generosity.  "I  cannot  let  pass  this 
opportunity  at  the  close  of  a  long  session 
of  Congress,  and  at  the  end  of  three  years 
of  this  Administration,  without  putting  on 
record  to  enlighten  future  generations  the 
history  of  the  part  which  the  colored  citi 
zen  has  had  in  the  stirring  events  of  this 
remarkable  period.  It  is  a  period  in  the 
history  of  the  country  of  which  future  gen 
erations  will  be  proud,  as  are  those  of  to 
day,  and  as  the  colored  citizens  of  the 
United  States  have  participated  nobly  in 


300  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

it,  it  is  but  just  to  them  that  the  facts  be 
put  on  record. 

"I  want  to  speak  of  his  part  in  the  war 
in  Cuba,  in  Porto  Rico,  in  the  Philippines. 
Would  a  war  with  Spain  benefit  the  Negro? 
was  a  popular  question  for  debate.  Some 
thought  it  would  benefit,  others  thought 
riot.  In  many  respects  it  has  been  a  God 
send  and  beyond  dispute  a  great  benefit. 
If  in  no  other  way,  15,048  privates  have 
shown  their  patriotism  and  their  valor  by 
offering  their  bared  breasts  as  shields  for 
the  country's  honor;  4,114  regulars  did  ac 
tual,  noble  and  heroic  service  at  El  Caney, 
San  Juan  and  Santiago,  while  266  officers 
(261  volunteers  and  five  regulars)  did  sim 
ilar  service  and  demonstrated  the  ability  of 
the  American  Negro  to  properly  command 
ever  so  well,  as  he  does  readily  obey." 

General  Grosvenor  then  pertinently 
adds:  "When  wre  learn  to  appreciate  the 
fact  that  three  years  ago  the  Negro  had  in 
the  army  only  five  officers  and  4,114  pri 
vates,  and  that  one  year  ago  he  had  266 
officers  and  15,048  privates,  we  must  know 
that  inestimable  benefit  has  come  to  the 
race.  Among  the  officers  are  to  be  found 
many  of  the  brightest  minds  of  the  race. 
Fully  80  per  cent  of  those  in  authority 
come  from  the  best  known  and  most  influ 
ential  families  in  the  land.  Their  contact 
with  and  influence  upon  their  superior  of 
ficers  will  be  sure  to  raise  the  Negro  in  the 
popular  esteem  and  do  an  incalculable 
.good." 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  301 

Reference  is  made  to  disbursements  to 
Negro  officers  and  soldiers  during  the 
Spanish  war,  which  he  colates  to  be 
15,000,000;  adding  the  salaries  of  those  em 
ployed  in  the  civil  service  brings  up  to  a 
sum  exceeding  $0,000,000  paid  the  Negro 
citizen.  This,  coupled  with  the  high  honor 
attached  to  such  military  designations  as 
colonels,  lieutenants  and  captains  con 
ferred  upon  him,  shed  a  halo  of  generosity 
over  President  McKinley's  Administration. 

General  Grosvenor  is  richly  entitled  to 
and  received  a  just  meed  of  praise  for  the 
great  service  he  has  done  by  putting  this 
grand  array  of  fact  and  heroic  deed  in  pop 
ular  form,  and  thereby  strengthening  the 
Negro  appeal  for  justice  and  opportunity, 
while  its  pages  are  a  noble  contribution  to 
a  valor  that  will  illumine  Negro  history 
for  all  time.  It  was  most  opportune,  for 
the  then  pressing  need  to  strengthen  the 
weak  and  recall  the  recalcitrants  who  in 
discriminately  charge  the  party  with  being- 
remiss  in  requiting  and  acknowledging 
the  Negro's  devotion.  The  well-earned 
plaudits  for  his  bravery  on  the  battlefield 
should  widen  the  area  of  his  conscious 
ness,  intensify  conviction  that  mediocrity 
is  a  drug  in  every  human  activity,  for 
whether  in  the  professions,  literature,  agri 
culture  or  trades,  it  is  excellence  alone  that 
counts  and  will  bring  recognition,  despite 
the  frowning  battlements  of  caste.  As  we 
become  more  and  more  valued  factors  in 
the  common  cause  of  the  general  welfare,. 


302  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

that  the  flexibility  of  American  sentiment 
on  conviction  of  merit  will  be  more  appar 
ent  we  cannot  but  believe;  for  conditions 
seem  to  have  surmounted  law  and  seek 
their  own  solution,  since  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land  seems  ineffectual  and  local  sen 
timent  the  arbiter,  when  the  Negro  is 
plaintiff. 

In  the  first  section  of  Article  14  of  the 
Constitution  we  have:  "All  persons  born 
or  naturalized  in  the  United  States  and 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof  are  cit 
izens  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  sev 
eral  States  wherein  they  reside.  No  State 
shall  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge 
the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of 
the  United  States."  To  neutralize  this  pro 
nounced  and  unequivocal  legislation  we 
have  the  dictum  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  that  this  constitutional 
right,  so  plainly  set  forth,  can  be  legally 
abrogated  by  a  State  convention  or  legisla 
ture.  While  from  the  premises  stated  the 
conclusion  may  be  evident  to  a  jurist,  to 
the  layman  it  is  perplexing;  and  wrhile  bow 
ing  in  obeyance  to  this  court  of  last  resort, 
he  cannot  but  admire  the  judicial  agility 
in  escaping  the  problem.  He  is  reminded 
of  a  final  response  touching  the  character 
and  standing  of  a  church  member  of  whom 
the  inquirer  wishes  to  know.  The  reply 
was:  "Brother  B.  is  quite  prominent  and 
well  known  here."  "Well,  what  is  his  stand 
ing?"  "Oh,  very  high;  he  is  the  elder  of  our 
church  and  superintendent"  of  the  Sunday 


JOHN  MARSHAL!/  HARLAN, 

Chief  Justice  of  the-  United  States. 

Horn  in  Kentucky— A  Colonel  in  the  Union  Army— Candidate  for  Vice-President 
of  the  United    States. — One  of   the   Foremost  Authorities  on   Constitu 
tional    Law — Learned    anil    Impartial. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  303 

school."  "Yes,  but  as  I  am  thinking  of 
having  some  business  dealings  with  him, 
what  I  want  to  know  is,  how  does  he  stand 
for  credit  and  promptness?"  "Well, 
stranger,  if  you  put  it  that  way,  I  must  say 
that  heavenward  Bro.  B.  is  all  right,  but 
earthward  he  is  rather  twistical."  Ordi- 
naryxvard,  the  Supreme  Court  is  all  right; 
but  Xegroward,  twistical. 

For  the  law-abiding  citizens  of  these 
Commonwealths  we  have  this  other,  the 
second  section  of  the  same  article:  "When 
the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the 
rhoice  of  electors  for  President  or  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  Representa 
tives  in  Congress,  the  executive  or  judicial 
officers  of  a  State,  or  the  members  of  the 
legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to  any  one  of 
the  male  inhabitants  of  such  State  being 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged, 
except  for  participation  in  rebellion  or 
other  crimes,  the  basis  of  representation 
thereon  shall  be  reduced  in  the  proportion 
which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens 
shall  bear  to  the  whole  number  of  male 
citizens  twentv-one  years  of  age  in  such 


If,  as  avowed,  that  it  is  for  the  welfare  of 
such  Southern  States  that  they  desire  to 
banish  the  Negro  from  politics,  can  welfare 
be  promoted  or  national  integrity  sustained 
by  such  rank  injustice,  as  their  Members  of 
Congress  occupying  seats  therein,  or  hav 
ing  representation  in  the  electoral  college 


304  SHADOW  AND    LI^HT. 

based  upon  an  apportionment  in  which  the 
[Negro  numerically  is  so  prominent  a  fac 
tor,  and  in  the  exercise  of  rights  pertain 
ing  thereto,  he  is  a  nonentity. 

"The  Baptist  Watchman"  takes  this  un 
assailable  position  of  this  misrule:  uEx- 
Governor  Northen,  of  Georgia,  in  his  ad 
dress  before  the  Congregational  Club  the 
other  evening,  declared  that  the  status  of 
the  black  race  in  the  South  was  that  of 
permanent  dependence  upon  the  white 
race.  The  central  point  of  his  contention 
is  that  capacity  to  rule  confers  the  right  to 
rule.  The  white  man  can  give  the  black 
man  a  better  government  that  he  can  give 
himself;  therefore,  the  black  man  should 
be  glad  to  receive  the  blessing  at  the  hands, 
of  the  white  man.  For  our  part,  we  be 
lieve  that,  whatever  specious  defense  on 
the  ground  of  philanthropy,  civilization 
and  religion  may  be  made  for  this  position, 
it  is  radically  repugnant  to  the  genius  of 
American  institutions.  If  the  men  of  the 
nation  who  are  best  qualified  to  rule  have 
a  right  to  rule,  they  themselves  being  the 
judge  of  their  qualifications,  England  or 
Russia  would  be  justified  in  attempting  to 
impose  their  sovereignty  on  the  United 
States,  if  they  thought  they  could  give  us 
a  better  government  than  we  are  apt  to 
give  ourselves.  Unless  the  doctrine  is  vig 
orously  maintained  that  governments  'de 
rive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of 
the  governed/  and  not  from  the  conceit 
of  an  aristocracy  as  to  its  own  capacity, 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  305 

then  we  of  the  North  will  not  find  it  easy 
to  protest  effectively  against  the  disfran- 
chisement  of  the  Southern  Negroes." 

But  the  issue  will  not  be  made  in  opposi 
tion  to  a  great  national  party  that  draws 
a  large  measure  of  its  strength  from  the 
South  till  disaster  from  material  issues 
compel.  With  the  Republican  party  (as  of 
a  Christmas  morning)  "everything  is  lovely 
and  the  goose  hangs  high;77  but  discom 
fiture,  sometimes  laggard,  is  ever  attend 
ant  on  direlection  of  duty.  This  usurpa 
tion,  which  should  have  been  throttled 
when  a  babe,  has  now  become  a  giant  seat 
ed  in  its  castle,  compelling  deference  and 
acquiescence  to  an  anomaly,  reaching  be 
yond  the  Negro  in  its  menace  to  repre 
sentative  government. 

And  now,  while  from  inertia  the  Repub 
lican  party  has  been  privy  to  this  misrepre 
sentation,  prominent  Northern  leaders  are 
trying  to  take  advantage  of  their  ow^n  ne 
glect  in  an  attempt  to  reduce  representa 
tion  in  national  conventions  from  South 
ern  States,  irregularly  Democratic.  But 
the  friends  of  just  government  need  not 
despond,  for  the  political  and  industrial 
revolution  which  the  war  for  the  perpetua 
tion  of  the  Union  and  the  basic  principle 
of  equity  it  evolved  will  continue  to  de 
mand  and  eventually  secure  equal  rights 
for  all  beneath  the  flag. 

(20) 


306  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Now,  on  the  eve  of  my  departure  from 
Madagascar,  and  approaching  four  years 
of  consular  intercourse,  I  have  only  pleas 
ant  memories.  My  relations  with  Gen. 
eral  Gallieni,  Governor-General  of  the  Isl 
and,  and  his  official  family,  have  ever  been 
most  cordial.  On  learning  of  my  intended 
departure,  he  very  graciously  wrote  me,  as 
follows : 

Madagascar  and  Dependencies. 
Governeur-General. 
Tananirivo,  19th  Mch.,  1901. 
My  Dear  Consul: 

I  learn  with  much  displeasure  of  your 
early  departure  from  Madagascar,  and 
would  have  been  very  glad  to  have  met  you 
again  at  the  beginning  of  May,  when  going 
down  to  the  coast.  But  I  always  intend 
to  take  a  trip  to  America,  and  perhaps  may 
find  an  opportunity  to  see  you  again  in 
your  powerful  and  flourishing  country, 
which  I  wish  so  much  to  know.  I  thank 
you  very  much  for  your  kind  letter,  and  re 
ciprocate.  I  had  always  with  you  the  best 
relations,  and  I  could  appreciate  your 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  307 

friendly  and  highly  estimable  character, 
and  regret  your  departure.  I  have  read 
with  great  pleasure  your  biographical 
sketch,  and  I  see  that  you  have  already 
rendered  many  valuable  services  to  your 
country,  where  your  name  is  known  very 
honorably.  Yours  faithfully, 

GALLIENI. 

Socially,  as  a  member  of  the  "Circle 
Francais"  (a  club  of  the  elite  of  the  French 
residents,  a  constant  recipient  of  its  socia 
bility,  the  urbanity  and  kindness  of  Messrs. 
Proctor  Brothers,  Messrs.  Dadubhoy  &  Co., 
and  Messrs.  Oswold  &  Co.,  representing,  re 
spectively,  the  leading  English  and  Ger 
man  mercantile  firms  in  the  island,  con 
tributed  much  in  making  life  enjoyable  at 
that  far-away  post.  My  official  life  in  Mad 
agascar  was  not  without  its  lights  and 
shadows,  and  the  latter  sometimes  "paled 
the  ineffectual  rays"  of  belated  instruc 
tions.  Of  an  instance  I  may  make  mention. 
I  was  in  receipt  of  a  cablegram  from  the 
Department  of  State  advising  me  that  the 
flagship  "Chicago,"  with  Admiral  Howi- 
£»on,  would  at  an  early  date  stop  at  Tama- 
tave  and  instructing  me  to  obtain  what 
wild  animals  I  could  indigenous  to  Mada 
gascar  and  have  them  ready  to  ship  there 
by  for  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  at 
Washington,  D.  C.  How  I  responded,  and 
the  result  of  the  response,  is  attempted  to 
be  set  forth  in  the  following  dispatch  to 
the  Department  of  State: 


308  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

Consulate  of  the  United  States, 
Tamatave,  Madagascar,  July  3,  1899. 

Mr.  Gibbs  to  the  Department  of  State. 
Subject: 

Madagascar  Branch  of  Smithsonian  Insti 
tute. 

A  Consul's  "Burden." 


Abstract  of  Contents: 

Procuration  of  Live  Animals,  as  per  Order 
of  the  Department,  and  Declination  of 
the  Admiral  to  Receive  Them  on  Board. 

Honorable  Assistant  Secretary  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir: — Referring  to  your  cablegram  under 
date  of  May  22d  last,  directing  me  to  secure 
live  animals  for  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tute,  to  be  sent  home  on  the  flagship  "Chi 
cago"  on  its  arrival  at  this  port,  I  have  to 
report  that  I  proceeded  with  more  or  less 
trepidation  to  accomplish  the  same,  the 
wild  animals  of  Madagascar  being  exceed 
ingly  alive.  With  assistance  of  natives  I 
succeeded,  after  much  trouble  and  expense, 
in  obtaining  twelve,  had  them  caged  and 
brought  to  the  consulate  weeks  before  the 
arrival  of  the  ship.  This,  I  regret  to  sayr 
was  a  misadventure.  I  should  have  lo 
cated  them  in  the  woods  and  pointed  them 
out  to  the  Admiral  on  his  arrival.  At  first 
they  seemed  to  agree,  and  were  tractable 
until  a  patriotic  but  unlucky  impulse  in- 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  309 

duced  me  to  give  them  the  names  of  a  few 
prominent  Generals  in  the  late  war.  After 
that,  oh,  niy! 

The  twelve  consist  of  different  varieties. 
One  of  the  twelve  seems  a  cross  of  panther 
and  wild  cat,  and  rejoices  in  the  appela- 
tion  of  "Aye  Aye." 

On  the  arrival  of  the  "Chicago,"  forth 
with  I  reported  to  Admiral  Howison  my 
success  in  capturing  "these  things  of  beau 
ty,"  and  eternal  terrors,  and  my  desire 
that  they  change  domicile.  He  received 
me  with  such  charming  suavity,  and  my 
report  with  so  many  tender  expressions  of 
sympathy  for  the  monkeys  that  I  got  a  lit 
tle  mixed  as  to  his  preference.  Still  joy- 
smitten,  I  was  ill-prepared  for  the  an 
nouncement  "that  it  was  unwise  to  take 
them,  as  it  was  impossible  to  procure  food 
to  keep  them  alive  until  the  termination  of 
the  voyage." 

It  was  then,  Mr.  Secretary,  that  I  sadly 
realized  that  I  was  confronted  by  a  condi 
tion.  Over  seventy  years  of  age,  10,000 
miles  from  home,  a  beggarly  salary,  with 
a  menagerie  on  my  hands,  w^hile  bank 
ruptcy  and  a  humbled  flag  threatened  to 
stare  me  in  the  face.  There  remained 
nothing  for  me,  but  to  "bow  to  the  inevi 
table,"  transpose  myself  into  a  committee 
of  ways  and  means  for  the  purpose  of  se 
curing  sleep  for  my  eyelids  and  a  saving  to 
the  United  States  Treasury.  For  while 
ever  loyal  to  "the  old  flag  and  an  appro 
priation,"  a  sense  of  duty  compels  me  to 


.310  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

advise  that  this  branch  of  the  Sinithsonion 
Institute  is  of  doubtful  utility. 

With  a  desire  to  avoid,  if  possible,  "the 
deep  damnation  of  their  taking-off,"  by 
starvation,  several  plans  promising  relief 
suggested  themselves,  viz:  Sell  them, 
turn  them  loose,  or  keep  them  at  Govern 
ment  expense.  I  very  much  regret  that 
the  latter  course  I  shall  be  compelled  to 
adopt.  My  many  offers  to  sell  seemed  not 
understood,  as  the  only  response  I  have 
yet  received  has  been:  "I  get  you  more 
like  him,  I  can."  As  to  turning  them  loose, 
I  have  been  warned  by  the  local  authori 
ties  that  if  I  did  so  I  would  do  so  at  my 
peril.  A  necessary  part  of  diet  for  these 
animals  is  condensed  milk,  meat,  bread, 
jam,  and  bananas,  but  they  are  not  con 
tent.  Having  been  a  member  of  the  bar, 
and  retaining  much  veneration  for  the 
Quixotic  capers  of  judicial  twelve,  on  their 
desire  to  leave  I  "polled"  them  and  found 
a  hung  jury,  swinging  by  their  tails; 
eleven  indicated  "aye,"  but  the  twelfth, 
with  his  double  affirmative  cry  of  "Aye, 
Aye,"  being  equal  to  negative,  hung  them 
up.  MeanwThile,  they  bid  fair  to  be  a  per 
manent  exhibit. 

Under  cover  of  even  date  I  enclose  ac 
count  for  animals'  food  and  attention  to 
June  30,  and  beg  to  say  regarding  the  item 
of  food,  that  I  anticipate  a  monthly  in 
crease  of  cost,  as  the  appetite  of  the  ani 
mals  seem  to  improve  in  captivity.  I  con 
clude,  Mr.  Secretary,  with  but  a  single  so- 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  311 

lace:  They  may  possibly  eat  oft*  their 
heads,  but  their  tails  give  abundant  prom 
ise  of  remaining  in  evidence.  Patiently 
awaiting  instructions  as  the  the  future  dis 
position  of  these  wild  and  wayward  wards 
of  the  Government,  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

M.  W.  GIBBS, 
U.  S.  Consul. 

How  and  when  "I  got  rid  of  my  burden" 
and  the  joyous  expressions  of  a  long-suf 
fering  Government  on  the  event,  will  (or 
will  not)  "be  continued  in  our  next." 

Having  asked  for  leave  of  absence,  and 
leaving  Mr.  William  H.  Hunt,  the  Vice- 
Consul,  in  charge  of  the  consulate,  on  the 
3d  of  April,  1891,  I  took  passage  on  the 
French  steamer,  "Yantse,"  for  Marseilles, 
France. 


312  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

April  3,  1901. — It  was  not  without  re 
gret,  that  found  expression  at  a  banquet 
given  me  on  the  eve  preceding  my  depart 
ure,  by  Mr.  Erlington,  the  German  Consul 
at  Tamatave,  that  I  took  my  leave  of  Mad 
agascar,  when  the  flags  of  the  officials  of 
the  French  Residency  and  flags  of  all  the 
foreign  consuls  were  flying,  honoring  me 
with  a  kindly  farewell.  A  jolly  French 
friend  of  mine,  who  came  out  to  the  steam 
er  to  see  me  off,  said :  "Judge,  don't  you  be 
too  sure  of  the  meaning  of  the  flags  flying 
at  your  departure  from  Tamatave,  for  we 
demonstrate  here  for  gladness,  as  well  as 
for  regret."  "Well,"  I  replied,  "in  either 
event  I  am  in  unison  with  the  sentiment 
intended  to  be  expressed;  for  I  have  both 
gladness  and  regret — gladness  with  antic 
ipations  of  home,  and  with  regret  that,  in 
all  human  probability,  I  am  taking  leave 
of  a  community  from  whom  for  nearly  four 
years  I  have  been  the  recipient,  officially, 
of  the  highest  respect;  and  socially  of  un 
stinted  friendliness." 

I  found  Vice-Consul  Hunt  had  secured 
and  had  had  my  baggage  placed  in  a  de 
sirable  state  room.  The  ringing  of  the  bell 


CHARLES  W.   CHESNUT. 

A   Distinguished   Colored  Writer— Author  of   '"The  House   Behind   the   Ced.-irs," 

"The  Wife  of  My   Youth."    "The   Conjure   Woman."    "Hit    M  >rrow   of 

Tradition"— All  Sparkling   with  Justice,   Wisdom,   and  Wit. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  313 

notified  all  non-passengers  ashore.  After 
hearty  handshakes  from  the  Vice-Consul, 
German,  French,  and  other  friends,  taking 
with  them  a  bottle  or  two  of  wine  that  had 
been  previously  placed  where  it  would  do 
the  most  good,  they  took  the  consular  boat, 
and  w^ith  the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying, 
and  handkerchiefs  waving  a  final  fare 
well,  they  were  pulled  ashore.  The  anchor 
weighs,  and  the  good,  ship  "Yantse"  in 
hales  a  long,  moist,  and  heated  breath  and 
commences  to  walk  with  stately  strides 
and  quickened  pace — weather  charming 
and  the  sea  as  quiet  as  a  tired  child.  The 
next  day  a  stop  at  the  Island  of  St.  Maria, 
a  French  possession,  and  on  the  fifth  day 
at  Deigo  Suarez,  on  the  north  end  of  Mada 
gascar. 

On  the  ninth  day  from  Tamatave  we  en 
tered  the  Gulf  of  Aden,  and  after  some 
hours  dropped  anchor  at  Oamp  Aden,  in 
Arabia.  Mr.  Byramzie,  a  Tamatave  friend 
of  mine,  and  of  the  London  firm  of  Dadab- 
hoy  &  Co.,  with  a  branch  at  Aden,  came  off 
to  meet  me  and  accompany  me  ashore. 
Camp  Aden  is  a  British  fortification  I  can 
not  readily  describe  with  reference  to  its 
topography  or  the  heterogenous  character 
and  pursuits  of  its  inhabitants.  Nature 
was  certainly  in  no  passive  mood  when 
last  it  flung  its  constituents  together;  for, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  circling  acres 
forming  a  rim  around  the  harbor,  high, 
broken,  and  frowning  battlements  of  rock> 
ungainly  and  sterile,  look  down  upon  you 


314  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  No  sprig,  or 
tree,  or  blade  of  grass  takes  root  in  its 
parched  soil  or  stony  bed,  or  survives  the 
blasting  heat.  Scattered  and  dotted  on 
crag,  hilltop  or  slope,  in  glaring  white,  are 
the  many  offices  and  residence  buildings 
of  the  camp.  While  in  hidden  crevices  and 
forbidden  paths  are  planted  the  most  ap 
proved  armament,  with  its  "dogs  of  war" 
to  dispute  a  passage  from  the  Gulf. 

In  a  dilapidated  four-wheeler,  drawn  by 
one  horse,  after  considerable  time  spent  by 
my  friend  in  agreeing  on  terms  (concern 
ing  which  I  pause  to  remark  that  these  be 
nighted  Jehus  can  give  a  Bowery  cabman 
points  on  "how  not  to  do  it"),  over  a  mac 
adam  road  of  five  miles  we  reach  Aden 
proper — the  site  of  hotels,  stores  and  resi 
dences  with  little  pretensions  to  architec 
tural  beauty;  the  buildings  are  quite  all 
constructed  of  stone,  that  material  being  in 
superabundance  on  every  intended  site; 
their  massive  Avails  contributing  to  a  cool 
interior  indispensable  as  a  refuge  from  the 
blistering  heat.  Pure  water  for  drinking  is 
a  luxury,  spasmodic  in  its  supply.  I  once 
heard  an  hilarious  Irish  song  that  stated: 

"We  are  jolly  and  happy,  for  we  know- 
without  doubt, 

That  the  whisky  is  plenty,  and  the  water 
is  out." 

This,  I  learn  is  the  normal  condition  at 
Aden  as  to  the  relative  status  of  whisky 
and  water — a  very  elysium  for  the  toper 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  315 

who  could  iiot    understand    why    whisky 
should  be  spoiled  by  mixing  it  with  water. 

Hams  are  infrequent  and  well  water  un 
palatable.  Sea  water  is  distilled,  but  the 
mineral  and  health-giving  qualities  are 
said  to  be  absent.  The  water  highly  prized 
and  sold  is  the  rainwater  caught  in  tanks. 
Hollowed  out  at  the  foot  of  the  rock  hills, 
there  are  numbers  of  peculiar  construction, 
connected  and  on  different  elevations.  But 
for  the  last  three  years  the  non-rainfall  has 
kept  them  without  a  tenant.  As  I  looked 
in  them  not  a  drop  sparkled  witthin  their 
capacious  confines;  they  are  seldom  filled, 
and  the  supply  is  ever  deficient.  The  pop 
ulation  is  from  6,000  to  8,000,  amid  which 
the  Parsee,  the  Mohammedan,  Jewy 
Portuguese,  and  other  nationalities  com 
pete  for  the  commerce  of  the  interior.  The 
natives  are  of  varied  castes,  the  Samiles 
the  most  energetic  and  prevailing  type* 
The  inferior  classes  go  about  almost  naked 
and  live  in  long,  unprepossessing  struc 
tures,  one  story  high,  divided  into  single 
rooms,  rude  and  uncleanly. 

While  at  Aden  I  availed  myself  of  the 
honor  and  pleasure  of  a  visit  to  the  Ameri 
can  Consulate,  and  received  a  warm,  jolly, 
and  spiritual  welcome  from  the  incumbent, 
the  Hon.  E.  T.  Cunningham,  of  Knoxville, 
Tenn.  Mr.  Cunningham  intended  to  stay 
at  Aden  for  six  months.  Like  "linked 
sweetness  long  drawn  out,"  that  period  has 
extended  to  three  years,  and  is  now  "los 
ing  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air."  He 


316  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

stated  that  lie  was  not  infatuated  with 
those  "scarlet  days77  and  "Arabian  nights/7 
and  is  seeking  relief  or  placement  amid 
more  congenial  surroundings,  where  dis 
tance  (does  not)  "lend  enchantment  to  the 
view.77  But  I  asisured  him  the  Department 
was  as  astute  as  selfish.  It  knows  when  it 
has  a  good  thing,  and  endeavors  to  keep  it. 
Mr.  Cunningham  has  proved  himself  to  be 
an  efficient  and  trusted  official.  We  parted 
with  mutual  hope  of  again  meeting  in  "the 
land  of  the  cotton  and  the  corn.77 

On  my  way  to  the  landing  I  passed  many 
convoys  of  camels  and  asses,  laden  with 
coffee,  it  being  one  of  the  main  articles  of 
export.  Arriving  at  the  steamer  and  bid 
ding  my  Parsee  friend  a  last,  long  fare 
well,  shortly  we  weighed  anchor  and  away 
for  a  five  days  sail  to  Suez. 

On  the  17th  of  April,  eventful  to  me,  be 
ing  my  birthday,  we  arrived  at  Suez  for  a 
short  stay,  without  time  or  inclination  to 
go  ashore.  But,  seeing  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  flying  from  a  ship  lying  in  the  dis 
tance,  I  could  not  withstand  the  tempta 
tion.  Jumping  into  a  native  sailboat  that 
described  every  point  of  the  compass  with 
oars  and  adverse  wind,  I  reached  the 
United  States  cruiser,  "New  York.77  Capt. 
Rodgers  and  his  gentlemanly  officers  gave 
me  a  very  cordial  reception,  ensuring  an 
enjoyable  visit.  Capt.  Kodgers  informed 
me  that  Lieutenant  Poundstone  was 
aboard,  who  knew  me  as  a  "promoter'7  for 
the  Smithsonian  Institute  at  Washington, 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  31 T 

he  having  been  aboard  the  "Chicago" 
when  it  visited  Tamatave,  and  when  Ad 
miral  Howison  declined  to  convey  iny  "gay 
and  festive1'  collection  of  wild  animals  to 
America.  I  would  be  most  happy  to  see 
him.  He  soon  appeared  with  pleasant 
greetings  and  recollections  of  Tamatave 
incidents.  My  stay  from  ship  being  lim 
ited,  after  a  chat,  mingled  with  sherry  and 
cigars  and  an  expression  of  regret  from 
Capt  Rodgers  that,  not  being  in  our  "bail 
iwick,"  he  could  not  give  me  a  consular  sa 
lute  from  his  guns,  he  ordered  the  ship's 
steam  launch,  and,  escorted  by  the  Lieu 
tenant,  under  our  national  banner,  I  soon 
boarded  my  ship.  I  was  much  indebted  to 
Capt.  Rodgers  and  officers  for  their  charm 
ing  courtesy. 

Leaving  Suez  at  mid-day,  we  shortly  en 
ter  the  Suez  Canal — 85  miles,  with  numer 
ous  tie-ups  to  allow  other  ships  the  right  of 
way. 

At  8  o'clock  the  following  morning  we 
dropped  anchor  at  Port  Said,  a  populous 
city  of  Arabia  with  30,000  inhabitants, 
much  diversified  as  to  nativities,  Turks, 
Assyrians,  Jews,  and  Greeks  being  largely 
represented.  The  city  is  quite  prepossess 
ing,  and  seems  to  have  improved  its  sani 
tary  features  since  my  visit  four  years  ago. 
There  are  many  charming  viewrs;  an  inter 
esting  place  for  the  tourist,  alike  for  the 
virtuous  and  the  vicious,  for  those  so  in 
clined  can  see  human  nature  "unadorned." 
Wide  streets  pierce  the  city,  the  stores  on 


318  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

which  are  a  continuous  bazaar,  lined  with 
many  exquisite  productions  of  necessity 
and  Eastern  art.  But  I  have  previously 
dwelt  on  Port  Said  peculiarities. 

Leaving  Port  Said  on  the  18th,  our  good 
ship  soon  enters  the  Mediterranean,  and 
with  smooth  seas  passes  through  the 
Straits  of  Messina,  with  a  fine  view  of  Mt. 
Etna,  as  of  yore,  belching  forth  flames  and 
smoke,  with  Sicily  on  our  left  and  Italy 
and  her  cities  on  our  right.  Again  enter 
ing  the  Mediterranean,  we  encounter  our 
first  rough  seas  and  diminution  of  guests 
at  the  table.  Neptune,  who  had  been  len 
ient  for  IT  days,  now  demanded  settlement 
before  digestion  should  again  be  allowed 
to  resume  its  sway.  For  myself,  I  was  like 
and  unlike  the  impecunious  boarder,  who 
"never  missed  a  meal  nor  paid  a  cent/7  but 
like  him  only  in  constant  attendance,  for 
I  could  ill-afford  to  miss  any  part  of  the 
pleasure  of  transit  or  menu  costing  f  10  a 
day — happy,  however,  that  I  was  minus 
"mal  de  mer,"  seasickness.  But  this  tem 
porary  ailment  of  the  passengers  was  soon 
banished  by  another  phase  of  ocean  travel, 
that  of  being  enveloped  in  a  fog  so  dense 
that  the  ship's  length  could  not  be  seen 
ahead  from  the  bow— every  officer  of  the 
ship  alert,  the  fog  horn  blowing  its  warn 
ings  at  short  intervals,  answered  by  the 
"ships  that  pass  in  the  night"  of  fogs.  The 
anxiety  of  the  passengers  that  the  fog 
would  lift  Avas  relieved  after  36  hours,  and 
our  ship  hied  away  and  reached  Marsielles 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  319 

on  the  23d.  From  there  by  rail  to  Paris. 
Ensconced  again  at  the  "Hotel  Binda,"  the 
next  day  I  visited  the  site  of  the  great 
Paris  Exposition.  Few  of  the  buildings 
were  in  their  entirety,  but  what  remained 
of  the  classic  beauty  of  their  construction 
shone  the  more  vivid  amid  the  debris  of 
demolition  that  surrounded  them.  The 
French  were  not  enthusiastic  in  relation  to 
the  financial  benefit  of  the  exposition. 

A  few  days  in  Paris,  and  thence  to  Cher 
bourg  to  cross  the  English  Channel  to 
Southampton,  London.  This  channel, 
which  has  a  well-merited  reputation  for 
being  gay  and  frolicsome,  was  exteremely 
gracious,  allowing  us  to  glide  over  its 
placid  bosom  with  scarce  a  tremor. 


320  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

This  was  my  first  visit  to  the  land  of  Wil- 
berforces  and  Clarksons  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  whose  devotion  and  fidelity  to 
liberty  abolished  African  slavery  in  Brit 
ain's  dominion  and  created  the  sentiment 
that  found  expression  in  the  immortal  ut 
terance  of  Judge  Mansfield's  decision: 
"Slaves  cannot  breathe  in  England;  upon 
touch  of  its  soil  they  stand  forth  redeemed 
and  regenerated  by  the  genuis  of  universal 
liberty."  With  my  English  friend,  C.  B. 
Hurwitz,  as  an  escort,  I  enjoyed  an  excur 
sion  on  the  Thames,  and  visited  many 
places  of  note,  including  England's  vet 
eran  bank,  designated  as  the  "Old  Lady  of 
Threadneedle  Street,"  and  the  Towers  of 
London.  One  of  these,  the  Beauchamp 
Tower,  is  supposed  to  have  been  built  in 
the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  the  arch 
itecture  corresponding  with  that  in  use  at 
that  period,  and  lately  restored  to  its  orig 
inal  state.  Herein  are  many  inscriptions, 
some  very  rude,  others  quite  artistic.  It 
was  during  the  restoration  that  these  in 
scriptions  were  partially  discovered  and 
carefully  preserved.  They  were  cut  in  the 
stone  walls  and  partitions  by  the  unhappy 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  321 

•occupants,  confined  for  life  or  execution 
for  their  religion  or  rebellion  in  the  thir 
teenth  to  the  sixteenth  century.  Many 
are  adorned  with  rude  devices  and  inscrip 
tions  denoting  the  undying*  faith  of  the 
martyr;  others  the  wailing  of  distress  and 
despair.  Five  hundred  years  have  elapsed, 
yet  the  sadness  of  the  crushed  hearts  of 
the  unhappy  occupants  still  lingers  like  a 
funeral  pall  to  point  a  moral  that  should 
strengthen  tolerance  and  cherish  liberty. 

Leaving  Southampton,  London,  on  the 
steamship  St.  Louis,  after  an  uneventful 
passage  I  arrived  in  New  York,  and  from 
thence  to  Washington,  D.  C.  After  my 
leave  of  absence  had  expired,  I  decided  not 
to  return  to  Madagascar.  For  after  nearly 
four  years'  dalliance  with  the  Malagash  fe 
ver  in  the  spring  and  dodging  the  bubonic 
plague  in  the  fall,  I  concluded  that  Mada 
gascar  was  a  good  place  to  come  from. 

W.  H.  Hunt,  the  Vice-Consul,  who  had 
filed  application  for  the  Consulship,  condi 
tioned  upon  my  resignation,  was  appointed. 
An  admirable  appointment,  for  the  duties 
pertaining  thereto,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  be 
performed  with  much  credit  to  himself  and 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Government. 

I  was  honored  as  a  delegate  to  a  very  in 
teresting  assembly  of  colored  men  from 
32  States,  designated  the  "National  Negro 
Business  Men's  League,'*  which  met  in  Chi 
cago,  111.,  Aug.  27,  1901.  Of  its  object  and 
labors  my  conclusions  were:  That  no  bet- 

(21) 


322  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

ter  evidence  can  be  produced  that  the  ne 
gro  has  a  good  hold  on  the  lever  which  will 
not  only  give  a  self-consciousness  of  latent 
powers,  but  will  surely  elevate  him  in  the 
estimation  of  his  fellw-citizens,  than  the 
increasing  interest  he  is  taking  and  engag 
ing  in  many  of  the  business  ventures  of  the 
country,  and  the  popular  acquiescence 
manifested  by  the  croAvded  attendance  at 
every  session  of  the  meeting. 

The  President  of  the  League,  Booker  T. 
Washington,  expressed  the  following 
golden  thoughts  in  his  opening  speech: 

"As  a  race  we  must .  learn  more  and 
more  that  the  opinion  of  the  world  regard 
ing  us  is  not  much  influenced  by  what  we 
may  say  of  ourselves,  or  by  what  others 
say  of  us,  but  it  is  permanently 
influenced  by  actual,  tangible,  visible 
results.  The  object-lesson  of  one  honest 
Negro  succeeding  magnificently  in  each 
community  in  some  business  or  industry  is 
worth  a  hundred  abstract  speeches  in  se 
curing  opportunity  for  the  race. 

"In  the  South,  as  in  most  parts  of  the 
world,  the  Negro  who  does  something  and 
possesses  something  is  respected  by  both 
races.  Usefulness  in  the  community  where 
we  live  will  constitute  our  most  lasting 
and  potent  protection. 

"We  want  to  learn  the  lesson  of  small 
things  and  small  beginnings.  We  must  not 
feel  ourselves  above  the  most  humble  oc 
cupation  or  the  simple,  humble  beginning. 
If  our  vision  is  clear,  our  will  strong,  we 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  323 

will  use  the  very  obstacles  that  often  seem 
to  beset  us  as  stepping-stones  to  a  higher 
and  more  useful  life." 

The  enrollment  of  the  members  present 
was  not  completed  at  the  first  session,  but 
the  hall  was  crowded  and  200  of  those 
present  were  visitors  in  Chicago.  Pictures 
and  some  of  the  product  of  Negro  concerns 
decorated  the  Avails,  as  evidence  that  the 
black  man  is  rising  above  the  cotton  plan 
tation,  his  first  field  of  labor  in  this  coun 
try.  Pictures  of  brick  blocks,  factories, 
livery  stables,  farms  and  shops  of  every 
description  owned  by  Negroes  in  many  dif 
ferent  States  of  the  Union  were  in  the  col 
lection,  but  the  greater  evidence  of  the  Ne 
gro's  development  were  the  men  taking 
part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  sessions. 
They  are  clean  cut,  well-dressed,  intelli 
gent,  and  have  put  a  business  method  into 
the  organization. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  and  Mayor  of 
Chicago  were  represented  with  stirring  ad 
dresses  of  welcome.  The  convention  was 
singular  and  peculiar  in  this:  The  central 
idea  of  the  meeting  was  scrupulously  ad 
hered  to;  there  was  present  no  disposition 
to  refer  to  grievances  or  deprivations.  A 
feeling  seemed  to  permeate  the  partici 
pants  of  confidence  and  surety  that  they 
had  fathomed  the  depths  of  much  that 
stood  in  the  way  of  a  just  recognition  of 
Negro  worth  and  a  just  appreciation  and 
resolution  to  "fight  it  out  on  that  line  if  it 
took  all  summer/'  or  many  summers. 


324  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

There  were  so  many  expressions  so  full 
of  wisdom;  so  many  suggestions  practical 
and  adaptable,  I  would,  had  I  space,  re 
cord  them  all  here. 

Theodore  Jones,  of  Chicago,  a  successful 
business  man,  in  concluding  an  able  paper,. 
"Can  a  Negro  Succeed  as  a  Business  Man," 
said : 

"The  tone  of  this  convention  clearly  indi 
cates  that  the  Negro  will  succeed  as  a 
business  man  in  proportion  as  he  learns 
that  manhood  and  womanhood  are  quali 
ties  of  his  own  making,  and  that  no  exter 
nal  forces  can  either  give  or  take  them 
away.  It  demonstrates  that  intelligence, 
punctuality,  industry,  and  integrity  are  the 
conquering  forces  in  the  business  and  com 
mercial  w^orld,  as  well  as  in  all  the  affairs 
of  human  life." 

Giles  B.  Jackson,  Secretary  of  the  Busi 
ness  League  of  Virginia,  read  a  paper  on 
"Negro  Industries,"  showing  what  had 
been  done  toward  the  solution  of  the  so- 
called  "Negro  problem."  The  Negroes,  he 
stated,  had  f  14,000,000  invested  in  busi: 
ness  enterprises  in  Virginia. 

William  L.  Taylor,  President  of  the 
"True  Reformers'  Bank,"  of  Richmond,. 
Va.,  gave  interesting  details  in  an  able  and 
intelligent  effort,  of  the  aims  and  accom 
plishments  of  that  successful  institution,, 
presenting  many  phases  of  the  enterprise 
—its  branch  stores,  different  farms,  hotel 
and  printing  department,  giving  employ- 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  325 

ment  to  more  than  100  officers,  clerks,  and 
employees.  Dr.  K.  H.  Boyd,  of  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  the  head  of  the  "Colored  Publishing 
Company,  of  Nashville/7  employing  123  as 
sistants,  delivered  an  able  address  on  the 
"Negro  in  the  Publishing  Business," 
which  was  discussed  with  marked  ability 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morris,  of  Helena,  Ark. 

All  the  paticipants  are  worthy  of  a  meed 
of  praise  for  their  many  helpful  utterances 
and  manly  deportment.  Prominent  among 
them  were  Charles  Banks,  merchant  and  a 
large  property  owner  of  Clarkesdale,  Miss., 
who  spoke  on  "Merchandizing";  William 
O.  Murphy,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  on  the  "Gro 
cery  Business";  Harris  Barrett,  of  Hamp 
ton,  Va.,  on  "The  Building  and  Loan  As 
sociation  of  Hampton,  Va.";  A.  N.  John 
son,  publisher  and  editor,  of  Mobile,  on 
"The  Negro  Business  Enterprises  of  Mo 
bile";  F.  D.  Patterson,  of  Greenfield,  Ohio, 
on  "Carriage  Manufacturing";  Martin  Fer 
guson  on  "Livery  Business,"  small  in  stat 
ure,  light  in  weight,  but  herculean  in  size 
and  heavy  in  force  of  persistency,  told  how 
by  self-denial  he  had  gained  a  fair  compe 
tency;  L.  G.  Wheeler,  of  Chicago,  111.,  on 
"Merchant  Tailoring";  Willis  S.  Stearns, 
a  druggist,  of  Decatur,  Ala.,  in  his  address 
stated  that  14  years  ago  there  was  not  a. 
Negro  druggist  in  that  State;  now  there 
are  over  200  such  stores  owned  by  colored 
men  in  various  cities  of  that  State,  with  an 
invested  capital  of  $500,000.  Walter  P. 
Hall,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  an  extensive 


326  SHADOW  AND   LIGHT. 

dealer  in  game  and  poultry,  spoke  on  that 
subject. 

And  possibly  as  a  fitting  wind-up,  as  all 
sublunary  things  must  come  to  an  end, 
George  E.  Jones,  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  and 
G.  E.  Ilussel,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  under 
takers,  spoke  pathetically  to  their  fellow- 
members  of  the  League  (I  trust  not  expec 
tantly)  of  the  advance  in  the  science  of  em 
balming  and  other  facilities  for  conveying 
them  to  that  "bourne  from  which  no  trav 
eller  returns."  The  session  was  "a  feast 
of  reason  and  a  flow  of  soul"  from  its  com 
mencement  until  its  close.  And,  as  ever 
has  been  the  case  on  our  upward  journey, 
there  were  women  lighting  the  pathway 
and  stimulating  effort;  for  during  the  ses 
sions  Mrs.  Albreta  Smith  read  a  very  in 
teresting  paper  on  "The  Success  of  the  Ne 
gro  Women's  Business  Club  of  Chicago"; 
a  delightful  one  was  read  by  Mrs.  Dora 
Miller,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  "Dressmaking 
and  Millinery"  was  entertainingly  present 
ed  by  Mrs.  Emma  L.  Pitts,  of  Macon,  Ga., 
the  ladies  dwelling  on  the  great  good  that 
was  being  done  by  their  establishments 
by  teaching  and  giving  employment  to 
scores  of  poor  but  worthy  girls,  and  there 
by  helping  them  to  lead  pure  and  useful  lives. 

I  haATe  given  this  exhibition  of  what  the 
Negro  is  doing  the  foregoing  space  for  en 
couragement  and  precept,  because  I  be 
lieve  it  to  be  the  key  to  unlock  many  doors 
to  honorable  and  useful  lives  heretofore 
barred  against  us. 


WILLIAM   McKINLEY, 

Late  Martyred  President  of  the  United  States. 
Tith  a  Record  for  Statesmanship,   Patriotism,   and  Justice  Imperishable — "His 
Life   Was   Gentle   and   the   Elements  so   Mixed   in   Him,    that   Nature 
Stand  Up  and  Say -to  all  the  Woi'Id,  'This  is  a  Man.'  " 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  327 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Leaving  Chicago,  and  having  business 
with  the  President,  I  visited  him  at  Can 
ton,  was  kindly  received,  and  accomplished 
the  object  of  my  visit,  little  thinking  that, 
in  common  with  my  countrymen  I  was  so 
soon  to  be  horrified  and  appalled  by  an 
atrocity  which  bathed  the  country  in  tears 
and  startled  the  world  in  the  taking-eft'  of 
one  of  the  purest  patriots  that  had  ever 
trod  his  native  soil. 

The  tragedy  occurred  at  4  o'clock  p.  in., 
on  the  6th  of  September,  1901,  in  the  Tem 
ple  of  Music  on  the  grounds  of  and  during 
the  Exposition  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  Sur 
rounded  by  a  body-guard,  among  whom 
ivas  Secret  Service  Detective  Samuel  R. 
Ireland,  of  Washington,  who  was  directly 
in  front  of  the  President,  the  latter  en 
gaged  in  the  usual  manner  of  handshak 
ing  at  a  public  reception  at  the  White 
House.  Not  many  minutes  had  expired;  a 
hundred  or  more  of  the  line  had  passed 
the  President,  when  a  young-looking  man 
named  Leon  Czolgosz,  said  to  be  of  Polish 
extraction,  approached,  offering  his  left 
hand,  while  his  right  hand  contained  a 
pistol  concealed  under  a  handkerchief, 
fired  two  shots  at  the  President. 


328  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

James  Parker,  a  colored  man,  a  very  her- 
cules  in  height,  who  was  next  to  have 
greeted  the  President,  struck  the  assassin 
a  terrific  blow  that  felled  him  to  the  floor, 
preventing  him  (as  Ozolgosz  himself  avers 
in  the  following  interview)  from  firing  the 
third  si  lot: 

"Yesterday  morning  I  went  again  to  the 
Exposition  grounds.  Emma  Goldman's 
speech  was  still  burning  me  up.  I  waited 
near  the  central  entrance  for  the  Presi 
dent,  who  was  to  board  his  special  train 
from  that  gate,  but  the  police  allowed  no 
body  but  the  President's  party  to  pass 
where  the  train  waited.  So  I  stayed  at  the 
grounds  all  day  waiting. 

"During  yesterday  I  first  thought  of  hid 
ing  my  pistol  under  my  handkerchief.  I 
was  afraid  if  I  had  to  draw  it  from  my 
pocket  I  would  be  seen  and  seized  by  the 
guards.  I  got  to  the  Temple  of  Music  the 
first  one,  and  waited  at  the  spot  where  the 
reception  was  to  be  held. 

"Then  he  came,  the  President — the  ruler 
—and  I  got  in  line  and  trembled  and 
trembled  until  I  got  right  up  to  him,  and 
then  I  shot  him  twice  through  my  white 
handkerchief.  I  would  have  fired  more, 
but  I  was  stunned  by  a  blow,  in  the  face— 
a  frightful  blow  that  knocked  me  down— 
and  then  everybody  jumped  on  me.  T 
thought  I  would  be  killed,  and  was  sur 
prised  the  way  they  treated  me." 

Ozolgosz  ended  his  story  in  utter  exhaus- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  329 

tion.  When  he  had  about  concluded  he 
was  asked: 

"Did  you  really  mean  to  kill  the  Presi 
dent?" 

"I  did/'  was  the  cold-blooded  reply. 

"What  was  your  motive;  what  good 
could  it  do?" 

"I  am  an  anarchist.  I  am  a  disciple  of 
Emma  Goldman.  Her  words  set  me  on 
fire/'  he  replied,  with  not  the  slightest  tre 
mor. 

During  the  first  few  days  after  he  was 
shot  there  were  cheering  bulletins  issued 
by  the  medical  fraternity  in  attendance,  all 
typical  of  his  early  recovery,  and  the  heart 
of  the  nation  was  elated,  to  be,  a  week 
later,  depressed  with  sadness  at  the  an 
nouncement  that  a  change  had  come  and 
that  the  President  was  dying.  Never  was 
grief  more  sincere  for  a  ruler.  He  was 
buried  encased  with  the  homage  and  love 
of  his  people.  William  McKinley  will  live 
in  history,  not  only  as  a  man  whose  pri 
vate  life  was  stainless,  and  whose  Adminis 
tration  of  the  Government  was  beyond  re 
proach,  but  as  one  brilliant,  progressive, 
wise,  and  humane. 

Pre-eminent  as  an  arbiter  and  director, 
developing  the  nation  as  a  world  power, 
and  bringing  to  the  effete  and  semi-civilized 
peoples  of  the  Orient  the  blessings  of  civil 
ized  Government;  as  a  leader  and  pro 
tector  of  the  industrial  forces  of  the  coun 
try,  William  McKinley  was  conspicuous. 
With  strength  of  conviction,  leading  at  one 


330  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

time  an  almost  forlorn  hope,  by  his  states 
manship  and  intensity  of  purpose,  he  had 
grafted  on  the  statute  books  of  the  Nation 
a  policy  that  has  turned  the  wheels  of  a 
thousand  idle  mills,  employed  a  hundred 
thousand  idle  hands,  and  stimulated  every 
manufacturing  industry. 

This  accomplished,  in  his  last  speech, 
memorable  not  only  as  his  last  public  ut 
terance,  but  doubly  so  as  to  Avise  states 
manship  in  its  advocacy  of  a  less  restrict 
ive  tariff,  increased  reciprocity,  and  inter 
change  with  the  world's  commodities.  His 
love  of  justice  was  imperial.  He  was  noted 
in  this,  that  he  was  not  only  mentally  emi 
nent,  but  morally  great.  During  his  last 
tour  in  the  South,  while  endeavoring  to 
heal  animosities  engendered  by  the  civil 
war  and  banish  estrangement,  he  was  posi 
tive  in  the  display  of  heartfelt  interest  in 
the  Negro,  visiting  Tuskegee  and  other 
like  institutions  of  learning,  and  by  his 
presence  and  words  of  good  cheer  stimu 
lating  us  to  noble  deeds. 

Nor  was  his  interest  manifest  alone  in 
words;  his  appointments  in  the  bureaus  of 
the  Government  of  colored  men  exceeded 
that  of  any  previous  Executive — a  repre 
sentation  which  should  increase  in  accord 
ance  with  parity  of  numbers  and  fitness 
for  place. 

The  following  excerpts  from  the  Wash 
ington  Post,  the  verity  of  which  was 
echoed  in  the  account  of  the  crime  by  the 


JAMES  B.  PARKER. 

Who,  Iiisnired  by  Patriotism  and  Fidelity,  Struck  Down  the   Assassin  of 
Presid'  nt  McKiuloy. 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  331 

New  York  and  other  metropolitan  journals 
on  the  day  following  the  sad  occurrence, 
gives  a  sketch  of  the  manner  and  expres 
sions  of  the  criminal,  and  throws  light  on 
a  peculiar  phase  of  the  catastrophe,  that 
for  the  truth  of  history  and  in  the  interest 
of  justice  should  not  be  so  rudely  and  cov 
ertly  buried  'neath  the  immature  "beat 
ings  of  time." 

Washington  Post:  In  an  interview  Se 
cret  Service  Detective  Ireland,  who,  with 
Officers  Foster  and  Gallagher,  was  near 
the  President  when  the  shots  were  fired, 
said: 

"A  few  moments  before  Czolgosz  ap 
proached  a  man  came  along  with  three  fin 
gers  of  his  right  hand  tied  up  in  a  bandage, 
and  he  had  shaken  hands  \vith  his  left. 
When  Czolgosz  came  up  I  noticed  he  was 
a  boyish-looking  fellow,  with  an  innocent 
face,  perfectly  calm,  and  I  also  noticed 
that  his  right  hand  was  wrrapped  in  what 
appeared  to  be  a  bandage.  I  watched  him 
closely,  but  was  interrupted  by  the  man 
in  front  of  him,  who  held  on  to  the  Presi 
dent's  hand  an  unusually  long  time.  This 
man  appeared  to  be  an  Italian,  and  wore 
a  short,  heavy,  black  mustache.  He  was 
persistent,  and  it  was  necessary  for  me  to 
push  him  along  so  that  the  others  could 
reach  the  President.  Just  as  he  released 
the  President's  hand,  and  as  the  Presi 
dent  was  reaching  for  the  hand  of  the 
assassin,  there  were  two  quick  shots.  Star 
tied  for  a  moment,  I  looked  and  saw  the 


332  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

President  draw  his  right  hand  up  under 
his  coat,  straighten  up,  and,  pressing  his 
lips  together,  give  Czolgosz  the  most  scorn- 
and  contemptuous  look  possible  to  imag 
ine. 

"At  the  same  time  I  reached  for  the 
young  man,  and  caught  his  left  arm.  The 
big  Negro  standing  just  back  of  him,  and 
who  would  have  been  next  to  take  the  Pres 
ident's  hand,  struck  the  young  man  in  the 
neck  with  one  hand,  and  with  the  other 
reached  for  the  revolver,  which  had  been 
discharged  through  the  handkerchief,  and 
the  shots  from  which  had  set  fire  to  the 
linen. 

"Immediately  a  dozen  men  fell  upon  the 
assassin  and  bore  him  to  the  floor.  While 
on  the  floor  Czolgosz  again  tried  to  dis 
charge  the  revolver,  but  before  he  could 
point  it  at  the  President,  it  was  knocked 
from  his  hand  by  the  Negro.  It  flew  across 
the  floor,  and  one  of  the  artillerymen 
picked  it  up  and  put  it  in  his  pocket." 

Another  account  :  "Mr.  McKinley 
straightened  himself,  paled  slightly,  and 
riveted  his  eyes  upon  the  assassin.  He  did 
not  fall  or  make  an  outcry.  A  Negro, 
named  Parker,  employed  in  the  stadium, 
seized  the  wretch  and  threw  him  to  the 
floor,  striking  him  in  the  mouth.  As  he 
fell  he  struggled  to  use  the  weapon  again, 
but  was  quickly  overpowered.  Guard  Fos 
ter  sprang  to  the  side  of  Mr.  McKinley, 
who  walked  to  a  chair  a  few  feet  away." 

Washington   Post,   Oct.   9:  James   Par- 


SHADOW  AND   LIGHT.  333 

ker,  the  six-foot  Georgia  Negro,  who 
knocked  down  the  assassin  of  President 
McKinley  on  the  fatal  day  in  the  Temple 
of  Music,  after  the  two  shots  were  fired, 
gave  a  talk  to  an  audience  in  the  Metropol 
itan  A.  M.  E.  Church  last  night.  He  was 
introduced  by  Hon.  George  H.  White. 
Parker  arose,  and  after  a  few  preliminary 
remarks,  in  which  he  thanked  the  crowd 
for  its  presence,  he  said  he  was  glad  to  see 
so  many  colored  people  believed  he  did 
what  he  claimed  he  did  at  Buffalo. 

"When  the  assassin  dealt  his  blow,"  said 
Parker,  "I  felt  it  was  time  to  act.  It  is  no 
great  honor  I  am  trying  to  get,  but  sim 
ply  what  the  American  people  think  I  am 
entitled  to.  If  Mr.  McKinley  had  lived 
there  would  have  been  no  question  as  to- 
this  matter.  President  McKinley  was 
looking  right  at  me;  in  fact,  his  eyes  were 
riveted  upon  me  when  I  felled  the  assassin 
to  the  floor. 

"The  assassin  was  in  front  of  me,  and  as 
the  President  went  to  shake  his  hand,  he 
looked  hard  at  one  hand  which  the  fellow 
held  across  his  breast  bandaged.  I  looked 
over  the  man's  shoulder  to  see  what  the 
President  was  looking  at.  Just  then  there 
\vere  two  flashes  and  a  report,  and  I  saw 
the  flame  leap  from  the  supposed  bandage. 
I  seized  the  man  by  the  shoulder  and  dealt 
him  a  blow.  I  tried  to  catch  hold  of  the 
gun,  but  he  had  lowered  that  arm.  Quick 
as  a  flash  I  grasped  his  throat  and  choked 
him  as  hard  as  I  could.  As  this  happened 


334  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

he  raised  the  hand  with  the  gun  in  it  again 
as  if  to  fire,  the  burnig  handkerchief 
hanging  to  the  weapon.  I  helped  carry 
the  assassin  into  a  side  room,  and  helped 
to  search  him." 

Parker  told  of  certain  things  he  was 
about  to  do  to  the  assassin  when  one  of  the 
officers  asked  him  to  step  outside.  Parker 
refused.  He  declared  the  offi'cers  wanted 
to  get  him  out  of  the  way.  He  said  he 
helped  to  carry  the  assassin  to  the  carriage 
in  which  the  wretch  was  taken  to  jail. 

"I  don't  know  why  I  wasn't  summoned 
to  the  trial/7  he  said. 

Parker  said  Attorney  Penney  took  his 
testimony  after  the  shooting. 

"I  was  not  at  the  trial,  though/'  con 
cluded  Parker  in  an  injured  tone.  "I  don't 
say  this  was  done  with  any  intent  to  de 
fraud  me,  but  it  looks  mighty  funny,  that's 
all." 

The  above  interviews  with  officers  pres 
ent  agree  with  Parker's  version  of  the  af 
fair,  and  whether  the  afterthought  that 
further  recognition  of  his  decisive  action 
would  detract  from  the  reputation  for  vigi 
lance  which  they  were  expected  to  observe 
is  a  fitting  subject  for  presumption. 

At  the  time  of  the  occurrence  Parker 
was  the  cynosure  for  all  eyes.  Pieces  of 
the  clothing  that  he  wore  were  solicited 
and  given  to  his  enthusiastic  witnesses  of 
the  deed,  to  be  preserved  as  trophies  of  his 
action  in  preventing  the  third  shot.  No 
one  present  at  that  perilous  hour  and  wit- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  335 

nessing  doubted  or  questioned  that  Par 
ker  was  the  hero  of  the  occasion.  This,  the 
better  impulse,  indicating  a  just  apprecia 
tion  was  destined  soon  to  be  stifled  and  ig 
nored.  At  the  sittings  of  the  coroner's 
jury  to  investigate  the  shooting  of  the 
President,  he  was  neither  solicited  nor  al 
lowed  to  be  present,  or  testimony  adduced 
in  proof  of  his  bravery  in  attempting  to 
save  the  life  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
Republic.  Therefore,  Parker,  bereft  of  the 
well-earned  plaudits  of  his  countrymen, 
must  content  himself  with  duty  done. 

Remarkable  are  the  coincidences  at  ev 
ery  startling  episode  in  the  life  of  the  Na 
tion.  Beginning  at  our  country's  history, 
the  Negro  is  always  found  at  the  fore.  He 
was  there  when  Crispus  Attacks  received 
the  first  of  English  bullets  in  the  struggle 
of  American  patriots  for  Independence; 
there  in  the  civil  war,  when  he  asked  to  be 
assigned  to  posts  of  greatest  danger.  He 
was  there  quite  recently  at  El  Caney;  and 
now  Parker  bravely  bares  his  breast  be 
tween  the  intended  third  shot  of  the 
assassin  and  that  of  President  McKinley. 

If  this  dispensation  shall  awraken  the 
Nation  to  the  peril  of  admitting  the  refuse 
of  nations  within  our  borders, and  clothing 
them  with  the  panoply  of  American  citi 
zenship;  if  it  shall  engender  a  higher  ap 
preciation  of  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of 
the  Negro  citizens  of  the  Republic  by  the 
extension  of  justice  to  all  beneath  the  flag, 
William  McKinley  will  not  have  died  in  vain. 


336  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

Taking  up  the  reins  of  the  Administra 
tion  of  the  Government,  with  its  complex 
statesmanship,  where  a  master  had  laid 
them  down,  President  Roosevelt,  hereto 
fore  known  for  his  sterling  worth  as  an 
administrator,  and  his  imperial  honesty  as 
a  man,  has  put  forth  no  uncertain  sound  as 
to  his  intended  course.  The  announcement 
that  the  foreign  policy  of  his  illustrious 
predecessor  would  be  chiefly  adhered  to 
has  struck  a  responsive  chord  in  every  pa 
triotic  heart.  The  appointment  of  ex-Gov. 
Jones,  of  Alabama,  to  a  Federal  judgeship 
was  an  appointment  in  unison  with  the 
best  of  popular  accord.  The  nobility  of  the 
Governor  in  his  utterances  on  the  subject 
of  lynching  should  endear  him  to  every 
lover  of  justice  and  the  faithful  execution 
of  law.  For  lie  so  grandly  evinced  what  is 
so  sadly  wanting  in  many  humane  and  law- 
abiding  men — the  courage  of  his  convic 
tions. 

"For  when  a  free  thought  sought  expres 
sion, 
He  spoke  it  boldly,  spoke  it  all." 

It  is  only  to  the  fruition  of  such  expres 
sions,  the  molding  of  an  adverse  senti- 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT, 

President  of  the  United  States. 

Civil  Service  Commissioner—  Police  Commissioner  of  New  York— Assistant   Sec 
retary  of  War  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States— 
A  Hero  in  War.  a  Statesman  in  Pe.-u-e. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  337 

ment  to  such  lawlessness  that  we  can  look 
for  the  abolishment  of  that  crime  of  crimes 
which,  to  the  disgrace  of  our  country,  is 
solely  ours. 

This  appointment  is  considered  emi 
nently  wise,  not  only  for  the  superior  abil 
ity  of  the  appointee  as  a  jurist,  but  for  his 
broad  humanity  as  a  man,  fully  recogniz 
ing  the  inviolability  of  human  life  and  its 
subjection  to  law.  For  the  Negro,  his  pri 
mal  needs  are  protection  and  the  common 
liberty  vouchsafed  to  his  fellow-country 
men.  To  enjoy  them  it  is  necessary  that  he 
be  in  harmony  with  his  environments.  A 
bulwark  he  must  have,  of  a  friendship  not 
the  product  of  coercion,  but  a  concession 
from  the  pulse-beat  of  justice.  Such  ap 
pointments  pass  the  word  down  the  line 
that  President  Roosevelt,  in  his  endeavor 
to  be  the  exponent  of  the  genius  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship,  will  recognize  the  sterling 
advocates  of  the  basic  elements  of  consti 
tutional  Government,  those  of  law  and  or 
der,  irrespective  of  party  affiliation. 

This  appointment  will  probably  cause 
dissent  in  Republican  -circles,  but  it  may  be 
doubted  if  the  Negro  advances  his  political 
fortunes  by  invidious  criticism  of  the  ef 
forts  of  a  Republican  Administration  to 
harmonize  ante-bellum  issues.  For  while 
he  in  all  honesty  may  be  strenuous  for  the 
inviolability  of  franchises  of  the  Republi 
can  household,  and  widens  the  gap  be 
tween  friendly  surroundings,  each  of  the 

(22) 


338  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

political  litigants  meet  with  their  knees 
under  each  other's  mahogany,  and  jocular 
ly  discuss  Negro  idiosyncrasies,  and  tacitly 
agree  to  give  his  political  aspirations  a 
"letting  alone."  For,  with  character  and 
ability  unquestioned  for  the  discharge  of 
duties,  the  vote  polled  for  him  usually 
falls  far  short  of  the  average  of  that  polled 
by  his  party  for  other  candidates  on  the 
ticket. 

The  summary  killing  of  human  beings  by 
mobs  without  the  form  of  law  is  not  of 
late  origin.  Ever  since  the  first  note  of  re 
construction  was  sounded,  each  Adminis 
tration  has  denounced  lynching.  All  his 
tory  is  the  record  that  it  is  only. through 
discussion  and  the  ventilation  of  wrong 
that  right  becomes  a  valued  factor.  But 
regard  for  justice  is  not  diminishing  in  our 
country.  The  judiciary,  although  weak 
and  amenable  to  prevailing  local  preju 
dices  in  localities,  a,s  a  whole  is  far  in  ad 
vance  on  the  sustenance  of  righteous  rule 
than  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
when  slavery  ruled  the  Nation  and  its 
edicts  were  law,  and  its  baleful  influence 
permeated  every  branch  of  the  Govern 
ment, 

Of  the  judiciary  at  that  period  Theodore 
Parker,  an  eminent  Congregational  divine 
and  most  noted  leader  of  Christian 
thought,  during  a  sermon  in  1854,  said: 

"Slavery  corrupts  the  judicial  class.  In 
America,  especially  in  New  England,  no 
class  of  men  has  been  so  much  respected  as 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  339 

the  judges,  and  for  this  reason:  We  have 
had  wise,  learned,  and  excellent  men  for 
our  judges,  men  who  reverenced  the 
higher  law  of  God,  and  sought  by  human 
statutes  to  execute  justice.  You  all  know 
their  venerable  names  and  how  reveren 
tially  we  have  looked  up  to  them.  Many  of 
them  are  dead,  and  some  are  still  living, 
and  their  hoary  hairs  are  a  crown  of  glory 
on  a  judicial  life  without  judicial  blot.  But 
of  late  slavery  has  put  a  different  class  of 
men  on  the  benches  of  the  Federal  Courts 
—mere  tools  of  the  Government  creatures 
who  get  their  appointments  as-  pay  for 
past  political  service,  and  as  pay  in  ad 
vance  for  iniquity  not  yet  accomplished. 
"You  see  the  consequences.  Note  the  zeal 
of  the  Federal  judges  to  execute  iniquity 
by  statute  and  destroy  liberty.  See  how 
ready  they  are  to  support  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Bill,  which  tramples  on  the  spirit  of 
the  Constitution  and  its  letter,  too;  which 
outrages  justice  and  violates  the  most  sa 
cred  principles  and  precepts  of  Christian 
ity.  Not  a  United  States  Judge,  Circuit  or 
District, has  uttered  one  word  against  that 
bill  of  abominations.  Nay,  how  greedy 
they  are  to  get  victims  under  it.  No  wolf 
loves  better  to  rend  a  lamb  into  fragments 
than  these  judges  to  kidnap  a  fugitive 
slave  and  punish  any  man  who  desires  to 
speak  against  it.  You  know  what  has  hap 
pened  in  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  'courts.  You 
remember  the  'miraculous'  rescue  of  a 
Shadrach;  the  peaceable  snatching  of  a 


34:0  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

man  from  the  hands  of  a  cowardly  kidnap 
er  was  'high  treason;7  it  was  'levying 
war.-  You  remember  the  trial  of  the  res 
cuers!  Judge  Sprague's  charge  to  the  jury 
that  if  they  thought  the  question  wa& 
which  they  ought  to  obey,  the  laws  of  man 
or  the  laws  of  God,  then  they  must  'obey 
both,'  serve  God  and  Mammon,  Christ  and 
the  devil  in  the  same  act.  You  remember 
the  trial,  the  ruling  of  the  bench,  the 
swearing  on  the  stand,  the  witness  com 
ing  back  to  alter. and  enlarge  his  testimo 
ny  and  have  another  gird  at  the  prisoner. 
You  have  not  forgotten  the  trials  before 
Judge  Kane  at  Philadelphia  and  Judge 
Greer  at  Christiana  and  Wilkesbarre. 

"These  are  natural  results  from  causes 
well  known.  You  cannot  escape  a  princi 
ple.  Enslave  a  negro,  will  you?  You 
doom  to  bondage  your  own  sons  and 
daughters  by  your  own  act." 

At  the  death  of  Theodore  Parker,  among 
the  many  eulogies  on  his  life  was  one  by 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  highly  noted  for 
his  humanity,  his  learning  and  his  philos 
ophy.  It  contains  apples  of  gold,  and 
richly  deserves  immortality;  for  in  the 
worldly  strife  for  effervescent  wealth  and 
prominence,  a  benign  consciousness  that 
our  posthumous  fame  as  unselfish  bene 
factors  to  our  fellow-men  is  to  live  on 
through  the  ages,  would  be  a  solace  for 
much  misrepresentation.  Emerson  said: 
"It  is  plain  to  me  that  Theodore  Parker 
has  achieved  a  historic  immortality  here. 


HOX.    GEORGE    B.    COKTELYOU. 

Secretary  to  the  President. 

Born   July,    1862,    in   State  of   New   York — Has   Made   Mark    in    Literature    ami 

Art — His  Promotion  Has  Been  Rapid,  From  Stenographer  to  Executive 

Clerk,   Thence    to    Secretary    to    Presidents    McKinley   and 

Roosevelt,  an  Office  Now  Grown  to  the  Divinity 

of  a  Cabinet  Position. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  341 

It  will  not  be  in  the  acts  of  City  Councils 
nor  of  obsequious  Mayors  nor  in  the  State 
House;  the  proclamations  of  Governors, 
with  their  failing  virtue  failing  them  at 
critical  moments,  that  generations  will 
study  what  really  befel;  but  in  the  plain 
lessons  of  Theodore  Parker  in  this  hall,  in 
Faneuil  Hall  and  in  legislative  committee 
rooms,  that  the  true  temper  and  authentic 
record  of  these  days  will  be  read.  The  next 
generation  will  care  little  for  the  chances 
of  election  that  govern  Governors  now;  it 
will  care  little  for  fine  gentlemen  who  be 
haved  shabbily;  but  it  will  read  very  intel 
ligently  in  his  rough  story,  fortified  with 
exact  anecdotes,  precise  with  names  and 
dates,  what  part  was  taken  by  each  actor 
who  threw  himself  into  the  cause  of  hu 
manity  and  came  to  the  rescue  of  civiliza 
tion  at  a  hard  pinch;  and  those  who 
blocked  its  course. 

"The  vice  charged  against  America  is  the 
want  of  sincerity  in  leading  men.  It  does 
not  lie  at  his  door.  He  never  kept  back 
the  truth  for  fear  of  making  an  enemy. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  complained 
that  he  was  bitter  and  harsh ;  that  his  zeal 
burned  with  too  hot  a  flame.  It  is  so  hard 
in  evil  times  to  escape  this  charge  for  the 
faithful  preacher.  Most  of  all,  it  was  his 
merit,  like  Luther,  Knox,  and  Latimer  and 
John  the  Baptist,  to  speak  tart  truth  when 
that  was  peremptory  and  when  there  were 
few  to  say  it.  His  commanding  merit  as  a 
reformer  is  this,  that  he  insisted  beyond  all 


342  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

men  in  pulpit — I  cannot  think  of  one  rival 
—that  the  essence  of  Christianity  is  its 
practical  morals;  it  is  there  for  use,  or  it  is 
nothing.  If  you  combine  it  with  sharp 
trading,  or  with  ordinary  city  ambitions  to 
glaze  over  municipal  corruptions  or  pri 
vate  intemperance,  or  successful  frauds, 
or  immoral  politics,  or  unjust  wars,  or  the 
cheating  of  Indians,  or  the  robbing  of 
frontier  natives,  it  is  hypocrisy  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  you,  and  no  love  of  religious 
music,  or  dreams  of  Swedenborg,  or  praise 
of  John  Wesley  or  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  can 
save  you  from  the  Satan  which  you  are." 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  343 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

The  accord  so  generally  given  to  the 
appointment  of  ex-Governor  Jones,  of  Ala 
bama — a  Gold  Democrat,  having  views  on 
domestic  order  in  harmony  with  the  Ad 
ministration — to  a  Federal  judgeship  was 
destined  to  be  followed  by  a  bitter  ar 
raignment  of  President  Roosevelt  for  hav 
ing  invited  Booker  T.  Washington  to  dine 
with  him  at  the  White  House.  As  a  pass 
ing  event  not  without  interest,  in  this  era 
of  the  times,  indicative  of  "shadow  and 
light,"  I  append  a  few  extracts  from 
Southern  and  Northern  Journals: 

SHADOW. 

In  all  parts  of  the  country  comment  has 
been  provoked  by  the  fact  that  President 
Roosevelt,  on  Wednesday  night  last,  en* 
tertained  at  dinner  in  the  White  House,, 
Booker  T.  Washington,  who  is  generally 
regarded  as  the  representative  of  the  col 
ored  race  in  America.  Especially  in  the 
South  has  the  incident  aroused  indigna 
tion,  according  to  the  numerous  news  dis 
patches.  The  following  comments  from  the 
editorial  columns  of  newspapers  and  from 
prominent  men  are  given: 


344:  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

New  Orleans,  Oct.  19.— The  Times-Dem 
ocrat  says: 

"It  is  strange  news  that  comes  from 
Washington.  The  President  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  nation,  has  entertained  a  Negro  at  din 
ner  in  the  White  House.  White  men  of 
the  South,  how  do  you  like  it?  White  wo 
men  of  the  South,  how  do  you  like  it? 

"Everyone  knows  that  when  Mr.  Roose- 
velt  sits  down  to  dinner  in  the  White 
House  with  a  Negro  he  that  moment  de 
clares  to  all  the  world  that  in  the  judgment 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States  the 
Negro  is  the  social  equal  of  the  white  man. 
The  Negro  is  not  the  social  equal  of  the 
white  man.  Mr.  Roosevelt  might  as  well 
attempt  to  rub  the  stars  out  of  the  firma 
ment  as  to  try  to  erase  that  conviction 
from  the  heart  and  brain  of  the  American 
people." 

The  Daily  States:  "In  the  face  of  the 
facts  it  can  but  appear  that  the  President's 
action  was  little  less  than  a  studied  insult 
to  the  South  adopted  at  the  outset  of  his 
Adminstration  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
his  contempt  for  the  sentiments  and  preju 
dices  of  this  section." 

Richmond,  Va.,  Oct.  19.— The  Dispatch 
says: 

"With  many  qualities  that  are  good— 
with  some,  possibly,  that  are  great — Mr. 
Roosevelt   is  a    negrophilist.    While  Gov 
ernor  of   New   York   lie   invited   a    Nejjro 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  345 

(who,  on  account  of  race  prejudice,  could 
not  obtain  accommodation  at  any  hotel)  to 
be  his  guest  at  the  Executive  Mansion, 
and,  it  is  said,  gave  him  the  best  room  in 
the  house. 

"Night  before  last  the  President  had 
Prof.  Booker  T.  Washington  to  dine  with 
him  at  the  White  House.  That  was  a  de 
liberate  act,  taken  under  no  alleged  pres 
sure  of  necessity,  as  in  the  Albany  case, 
and  may  be  taken  as  outlining  his  policy 
toward  the  Negro  as  a  factor  in  Washing 
ton  society.  W^e  say  Washington  socie 
ty,'  rather  than  'American  society/  be 
cause  the  former,  on  account  of  its  politi 
cal  atmosphere,  is  much  more  'advanced' 
in  such  matters  than  that  of  any  other 
American  city  of  which  we  know  any 
thing.  The  President,  having  invited 
Booker  T.  Washington  to  his  table,  resi 
dents  of  Washington  of  less  conspicuous 
standing  may  be  expected  to  do  likewise. 
And  if  they  invite  him  they  may  invite 
lesser  lights — colored  lights, 

"When  Mr.  Cleveland  was  President-  he 
received  Fred  Douglass  at  some  of  his 
public  entertainments  —  'functions,7  so- 
called — butwe  do  not  remember  that  Fred 
was  singled  out  for  the  distinguished  hon 
or  of  dining  with  the  President,  as  Booker 
Washington  has  been. 

"We  do  not  like  Mr.  Roosevelt's  negro- 
philism  at  all,  and  are  sorry  to  see  him 
seeking  opportunities  to  indulge  in  it.  He 
is  reported  to  have  rejoiced  that  Negro 


346  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

children  were  going  to  school  with  his  chil 
dren  at  Oyster  Bay.  But  then,  it  may  be 
said,  too,  that  he  has  more  reasons  than 
the  average  white  man  to  be  fond  of  Ne 
groes,  since  it  was  a  Negro  regiment  that 
saved  the  Bough  Eiders  from  decimation 
at  San  Juan  Hill.  And  but  for  San  Juan 
Hill  it  is  quite  unlikely  that  Mr.  Roosevelt 
would  be  President  to-day. 

"Booker  Washington  is  said  to  have 
been  very  influential  with  the  President 
in  having  Judge  Jones  put  upon  the  Fed 
eral  bench  in  Alabama,  and  we  are  now 
fully  prepared  to  believe  that  statement. 

"With  our  long-matured  views  on  the 
subject  of  social  intercourse  between 
blacks  and  whites,  the  least  we  can  say 
now  is  that  we  deplore  the  President's 
taste,  and  we  distrust  his  wisdom.'7 

Birmingham,  Ala,,  Oct.  19. — The  Enter 
prise  says: 

"It  remained  for  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  es 
tablish  a  precedent  humiliating  to  the 
South  and  a  disgrace  to  the  nation.  Judge 
Jones  owes  a  duty  to  the  South,  to  his 
friends  and  to  common  decency  to  prompt 
ly  resign  and  hurl  the  appointment  back 
into  the  very  teeth  of  the  white  man  who 
would  invite  a  nigger  to  eat  with  his  fam 
ily." 

Augusta,  Ga.,  Oct.  19, — The  Augusta 
Chroncile  says,  in  its  leading  editorial,  to 
day  : 

"The  news  from  Washington  that  Presi 
dent  Booker  T.  Washington,  of  Tuskegee 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  347 

Institute,  was  a  guest  at  the  AVliite  House 
at  a  dinner  with  President  and  Mrs.  Roose- 
velt  and  family,  and  that  after  din 
ner  there  was  the  usual  social  hour 
over  cigars,  is  a  distinct  shock  to  the  favor 
able  sentiment  that  was  crystallizing  in 
the  South  for  the  new  President. 

"While  encouraging  the  people  in  the 
hope  that  the  Negro  is  to  be  largely 
eliminated  from  office  in  the  South,  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt  throws  the  fat  in  the  fire 
by  giving  countenance  to  the  Negro's 
claims  for  social  equality  by  having  one 
to  dine  in  the  White  House. 

"President  Roosevelt  has  made  a  mis 
take,  one  that  will  not  only  efface  the  good 
impression  he  had  begun  to  create  in  the 
South,  but  one  that  will  actively  antago 
nize  Southern  people  and  meet  the  disap 
proval  of  good  Anglo-Saxon  sentiment  in 
all  latitudes. 

"The  South  does  not  relish  the  Negro  in 
office,  but  that  is  a  small  matter  compared 
with  its  unalterable  opposition  to  social 
equality  between  the  races.  President 
Roosevelt  has  flown  in  the  fa'ce  of  public 
sentiment  and  precipitated  an  issue  that 
has  long  since  been  fought  out,  and  which 
should  have  been  left  in  the  list  of  settled 
questions." 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  Oct.  19.— The  Evening 
Banner  says: 

"Whatever  justification  may  be  at 
tempted  of  the  President's  action  in  this 


•348  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

instance,  it  goes  without  saying  that  it 
will  tend  to  chill  the  favor  with  which  he 
is  regarded  in  the  South,  and  will  embar 
rass  him  in  his  reputed  purpose  to  build 
up  his  party  in  this  section." 

Louisville,  Ky.,  Oct.  19.— The  Times  of 
jesterday  afternoon  says: 

"The  President  has  eliminated  the  color 
line  from  his  private  and  official  residences 
and  with  public  office  is  hiring  white  Dem 
ocrats  to  whitewash  it  down  South." 

Atlanta,  Ga.,  Oct.  19. — Governor  Can- 
dler  says: 

"No  self-respecting  white  man  can  ally 
himself  with  the  President  after  what  has 
occurred.  The  step  has  done  the  Republi 
can  party  no  earthly  good,  and  it  will  ma 
terially  injure  its  chances  in  the  South. 
The  effect  of  the  Jones  appointment  is 
largely  neutralized.  Still,  I  guess  it's  like 
the  old  woman  when  she  kissed  the  cow. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  Northern  people  do 
not  understand  the  Negro.  They  see  the 
best  types  and  judge  of  the  remainder  by 
them." 

LIGHT. 

Philadelphia,  Oct.  19.— The  Ledger  this 
morning  says: 

"Because  President  Roosevelt  saw  fit, 
in  his  good  judgment,  to  invite  Booker  T. 
Washington  to  dinner,  strong  words  of 
disapproval  are  heard  in  the  South.  Mr. 
Washington  is  a  colored  man  who  enjoys 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  349 

the  universal  respect  of  all  people  in  this 
country,  black  and  White,  on  account  of  at 
tainments,  character  and  deeds.  As  the 
President  invited  him  to  be  his  private 
guest,  and  did  not  attempt  to  enforce  the 
companionship  of  a  colored  man  upon  any 
one  to  whom  the  association  could  possi 
bly  be  distasteful,  any  criticism  of  the 
President's  act  savors  of  very  great  im 
pertinence.  But,  considered  in  any  light, 
the  invitation  is  not  a  subject  for  criticism. 
Booker  T.  Washington  is  one  of  the  most 
notable  citizens  of  the  country,  just  be 
cause  he  has  done  noteworthy  things.  He 
is  the  founder  and  the  successful  executive 
of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  institutions 
in  the  United  States,  the  Tuskegee  (Ala 
bama)  Institute,  which  not  only  aims,  but 
in  fact  does,  educate  and  train  the  youth 
of  the  negro  race  to  become  useful,  indus 
trious  and  self-supporting  citizens. 

"Booker  T.  Washington  is  the  embodi 
ment  of  common  sense  and,  instead  of  in 
citing  the  members  of  his  race  to  dwell 
upon  their  wrongs,  to  waste  their  time 
upon  politics  and  to  try  to  get  something 
for  nothing  in  this  life,  in  order  to  live 
without  work,  he  has  constantly  preached 
the  gospel  of  honest  work,  and  has  found 
ed  a  great  industrial  school,  which  fits  the 
young  Negroes  for  useful  lives  as  workers 
and  teachers  of  industry  to  others.  This  is 
the  man  who  was  justly  called  by  Presi 
dent  McKinley,  after  he  had  inspected 
Tuskegee,  the  "leader  of  his  race,"  and  in? 


350  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

the  South  no  intelligent  man  denies  that 
he  is  doing  a  great  service  to  the  whole 
population  of  both  colors  in  this  land.  It 
is  evident  that  the  only  objection  that 
could  be  brought  against  association  with 
such  a  man  as  that  is  color  alone,  and 
President  Roosevelt  will  not  recognize 
that  prejudice." 

The  Evening  Bulletin  says: 

"President  Roosevelt  night  before  last 
had  Booker  T.  Washington,  the  worthy 
and  much-respected  colored  man  who  is 
at  the  head  of  the  Tuskegee  Institute,  as  a 
guest  at  his  private  table  in  the  White 
House.  This  has  caused  some  indignation 
among  Southerners  and  in  Southern  news 
papers. 

"Yet  all  the  President  really  seems  to 
have  done  was  an  act  of  courtesy  in  asking 
Mr.  Washington  to  sit  down  with  him  to 
dinner  and  have  a  talk  with  him.  As 
Booker  T.  Washington  is  an  entirely  rep 
utable  man,  as  well  as  an  interesting  one, 
the  President  doubtless  enjoyed  his  com 
pany.  Many  Presidents  in  the  past  have 
had  far  less  reputable  and  agreeable  men 
at  their  table.  If  Mr.  Roosevelt  shall  have 
no  worse  ones  among  his  private  guests, 
the  country  will  have  no  cause  for  com 
plaint. 

"The  right  of  the  President  to  dine  with 
anyone  he  may  please  to  have  with  him  is 
entirely  his  own  affair,  and  Theodore 
Roosevelt  is  not  a  likely  man  to  pick  out 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  351 

bad  company,  black  or  white,  for  his  per 
sonal  or  social  companionship.  The  rum 
pus  which  some  indiscreet  Southerners 
are  trying-  to  raise  because  he  has  been 
hospitable  to  a  colored  man  is  a  foolish 
display  of  both  manners  and  temper." 

Boston,  Oct.  19. — Commenting  on  Presi 
dent  Koosevelt's  action  in  extending  hos 
pitality  to  Booker  T.  Washington,  Presi 
dent  Charles  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  said: 

"Harvard  dined  Booker  Washington  at 
her  tables  at  the  last  commencement.  Har 
vard  conferred  an  honorary  degree  on 
him.  This  ought  to  show  what  Harvard 
thinks  about  the  matter." 

William  Lloyd  Garrison:  "It  was  a  fine 
object  lesson,  and  most  encouraging.  It 
was  the  act  of  a  gentleman — an  act  of  un 
conscious  natural  simplicity." 

Charles  Eliot  Norton:  "I  uphold  the 
President  in  the  bold  stand  that  he  has 
taken." 

NO    SYMPATHY   WITH    PREJUDICE. 

New  York  Herald:  "The  President  has 
absolutely  no  sympathy  with  the  preju 
dice  against  'color.  He  has  shown  this  on 
twro  occasions.  Once  he  invited  to  his  house 
at  Oyster  Bay,  Harris,  the  Negro  half-back 
of  Yale,  and  entertained  him  over  night. 
The  other  occasion  was  wrhen  he  took  in 
at  the  Executive  Mansion  at  Albany, 
'Bringhvam,  the  Negro  baritone  of  St. 
Oeorge's  Church,  who  was  giving  a  con- 


352  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

cert  in  Albany  and  had  been  refused  food 
and  shelter  by  all  the  hotels. 

WASTING  THEIR  BREATH. 

Philadelphia  Press:  President  Roose 
velt's  critics  are  wasting  breath  and  spill 
ing  ink.  There  is  an  obstinate  man  in  the 
White  House.  The  >cry  of  "nigger"  will  nei 
ther  prevent  him  from  continuing  to  ap 
point  to  any  office  in  the  Southern  States 
the  best  men,  under  whatever  color  of  pol 
itics,  who  can  be  found  under  current  con 
ditions,  or  recognizing  in  the  hospitalities 
of  the  White  House  the  best  type  of  Amer 
ican  manhood,  under  whatever  color  of 
skin  it  can  be  found. 

THAT  DINNER. 

New  York  Tribune:  The  Southern  poli 
tician  who  criticises  President  Roosevelt's 
action  in  inviting  Prof.  Booker  T.  Wash 
ington  to  dine  at  the  White  House  is  likely 
to  raise  the  query  whether  the  manager  of 
the  Tuskegee  Institute  or  himself  is  really 
the  more  deserving  and  genuine  friend  of 
the  South. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  353 

DEMOCRATS  HAVE  CHANGED  ATTI 
TUDE. 


Glad  of  Booker  T.  Washington's  Help  in 
Securing  Office. 

NOW   JEER   ROOSEVELT. 


Berate  President  for  Dining  With  a  Negro. 


Some  Noted  Occasions  When  the  Alabama 

Educator    Has    Received    the 

Plaudits  of  the  South. 


Washington,  D.  C.,  Oct.  19.— President 
Roosevelt  has  a  fine  sense  of  humor,  and 
while  he  regrets  that  he  has  without  malice 
stirred  up  a  tempest  in  a  teapot  for  the 
Southern  editors  by  entertaining  Professor 
Booker  T.  Washington  at  dinner,  he  cannot 
put  aside  the  humorous  side  of  the  situa 
tion.  It  is  only  a  few  weeks  since  a  num 
ber  of  white  Democrats  co-operated  with 
Booker  Washington  in  regard  to  the  ap 
pointment  of  ex-Governor  Jones  to  the  va 
cancy  on  the  Federal  bench  in  Alabama, 
and  Washington  spoke  for  these  white 
Democrats  when  he  came  to  the  capital 
and  assured  President  Roosevelt  that 
Jones  would  accept  the  appointment  and 
that  it  would  be  satisfactory  to  all  classes. 

(23) 


354  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

Washington  had  seen  the  President  and 
had  acted  as  his  agent  in  interviewing  Gov 
ernor  Jones  and  others  as  to  the  appoint 
ment.  The  Southern  Democrats  applauded 
the  appointment  of  Jones,  and  they  praised 
Washington  for  using  his  influence  at  the 
White  House  to  secure  such  an  appoint 
ment  for  a  Democrat.  Then  they  all  spoke 
of  Washington  as  a  gentleman  of  culture, 
who  had  the  refined  sense  to  cut  loose  from 
the  republican  leaders  of  the  Negro  party 
in  the  South  and  work  in  harmony  with 
the  best  class  of  whites.  Now  they  are 
abusing  the  President  for  dining  with  a 
"nigger." 

Washington  has  entertained  more  dis 
tinguished  Northern  men  and  more  distin 
guished  Southern  men  at  the  Tuskegee  In 
stitute  than  any  other  man  in  the  State,  if 
not  in  the  South.  President  McKinley  and 
his  Cabinet,  accompanied  by  many  other 
distinguished  gentlemen,  were  the  guests 
of  Washington  at  Tuskegee  two  years  ago, 
and  they  lunched  at  his  table.  Washington 
was  the  guest  of  honor  at  a  banquet  in 
Paris  three  years  ago,  when  Ambassador 
Porter  presided  and  ex-President  Harrison 
and  Archbishop  Ireland  were  among  the 
guests.  This  same  "nigger"  wras  received 
by  Queen  Victoria  and  took  tea  in  Buck 
ingham  Palace  the  same  year. 

INVITATION  FROM  WHITE  HOUSE. 

When  he  returned  to  this  country  Wash 
ington  received  invitations  from  all  parts 
of  the  South  to  deliver  addresses  and  at- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  355 

tend  receptions  given  by  white  people.  He 
was  received  by  the  Governors  of  Georgia, 
Virginia,  West  Virginia  and  Louisiana.  He 
spoke  to  many  mixed  audiences  in  the 
South,  where  whites  and  blacks  united  to 
4\o  him  honor.  When  the  people  of  Atlanta 
wanted  an  appropriation  from  Congress 
for  their  Exposition  in  1895  they  sent  a 
large  committee  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  in  the  South  to  the  National  Capital 
to  plead  their  cause.  Booker  T.  Washing 
ton  was  one  of  these  distinguished  South 
ern  men.  Congressman  Joseph  E.  Cannon, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Appropria 
tions  in  the  House,  says  that  Washington 
by  his  force  and  eloquence  secured  that  ap 
propriation  of  |250,000  for  the  Atlanta  Ex 
position. 

The  Southern  people  had  only  praise  for 
him  when  he  was  arranging  to  take  Vice- 
President  Roosevelt  to  Tuskegee  and  Mont 
gomery  and  Atlanta  this  fall,  and  they 
were  eager  to  co-operate  with  him  in  enter 
taining  such  a  distinguished  visitor.  They 
still  hope  to  have  President  Roosevelt  visit 
the  South,  and  if  he  goes  he  will  go  as  the 
guest  of  Booker  T.  Washington. 

The  President  knows,  too,  that  the  real 
leaders  of  the  South,  white  Democrats,  do 
not  sympathize  with  this  hue  and  cry  of 
Southern  editors  because  Washington  was 
a  guest  at  the  White  House.  Today  the 
President  has  received  many  messages 
from  Southern  men,  urging  him  to  pay  no 
.attention  to  the  yawrp  of  the  bourbon  edi- 


356  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

tors,  who  have  not  been  able  to  get  over  the 
old  habit  of  historical  discussion  of  "social 
equality."  Southern  men  called  at  the 
White  House  today  as  usual  to  ask  for  fa 
vors  at  the  hands  of  the  President,  and 
they  are  not  afraid  of  contamination  by 
meeting  the  man  who  "ate  with  a  nigger.'r 

AMUSES  THE  PRESIDENT. 

President  Roosevelt  cannot  help  seeing 
the  humorous  side  of  the  situation  he  has 
created  by  asking  his  friend  to  dinner,  and 
he  is  pursuing  the  even  tenor  of  his  way  as- 
President  without  worrying  over  the  out 
come.  He  has,  in  the  last  two  weeks,  given 
cause  for  much  excitement  in  the  South. 
The  first  was  when  he  appointed  a  Demo 
crat  to  office  and  ignored  the  professional 
Republican  politicians,  who  claimed  to  car 
ry  the  "nigger"  vote  in  their  pocket.  He 
was  not  disturbed  by  the  threats  of  the 
Southern  Republican  politicians  over  that 
incident,  and  he  is  not  disturbed  by  the 
threats  of  the  Southern  Democratic  editors* 
over  this  incident. 

As  to  the  Southern  objection  to  dining 
with  a  Negro,  Opie  Read,  of  Chicago,  tell& 
a  story  about  M.  W.  Gibbs,  who  has  just 
resigned  his  position  as  United  States  Con 
sul  at  Tamatave,  Madagascar.  Gibbs  is 
now  in  Washington  on  his  way  home  to* 
Little  Rock.  He  resigned  to  giAre  a  younger 
man  a  chance  to  serve  his  country  as  a 
Consul.  Here  is  the  story  Opie  Read  told 
about  Gibbs  dining  with  white  men  at  a 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  357 

banquet  in  honor  of  General  Grant  in  Lit 
tle  Kock: 

"In  the  reconstruction  days  a  Negro  by 
the  name  of  Mifflin  Wistar  Gibbs  located 
in  Little  Eock,  Ark.  He  showed  the  com 
munity  that  he  was  keener  than  a  whole 
lot  of  its  leading  citizens,  who  had  kept 
the  offices  in  their  families  for  generations. 
Under  the  new  order  of  things  he  was  ap 
pointed  Attorney  of  Pulaski  County.  His 
ability  and  the  considerate  manner  in 
which  he  conducted  his  relationship  with 
the  whites  gave  him  a  greater  popularity 
than  any  other  colored  man  had  ever  be 
fore  enjoyed  in  that  place.  His  influence 
Increased,  until  General  Grant,  then  Presi 
dent,  appointed  him  Eegister  of  the  United 
States  Land  Office  at  Little  Eock. 

GIBBS'  SPEECH  THE  BEST. 

"When  General  Grant  visited  our  city 
a  banquet  was  prepared,  and  it  was  finally 
decided  that  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  'Bear  State'  a  Negro  would  be  wel- 
c  omed  at  a  social  function  on  terms  of  ab 
solute  equality.  I  was  then  editor  of  the 
Gazette,  and  my  seat  was  next  to  that  of 
Gibbs.  The  speaker  who  had  been  selected 
to  respond  to  the  toast,  'The  Possibili 
ties  of  American  Citizenship'  was  absent. 
I  asked  Gibbs  if  he  would  not  talk  on  that 
subject.  He  consented,  and  I  arranged  the 
matter  with  the  toastmaster.  The  novelty 
and  the  picturesqueness  of  the  thing  ap 
pealed  to  me.  Every  guest  was  spellbound, 


358  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

and  General  Grant  was  astonished.  Not 
only  was  the  speech  of  the  Negro  the  best 
one  delivered  on  that  occasion,  bnt  it  was 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  to  which  I  have 
ever  listened. 

"The  owner  of  the  Gazette  was  a  Demo 
crat  of  the  Democrats,  and  a  strict  keeper 
of  the  traditions  of  the  South.  Moreover, 
his  paper  was  the  official  organ  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  and  we  were  in  the  heat  of 
a  bitter  campaign.  In  spite  of  all  this, 
however,  I  came  out  with  the  editorial 
statement  that  Gibbs  had  scored  the  great 
est  oratorical  triumph  of  the  affair.  Per 
haps  this  didn't  stir  things  up  a  little.  But 
the  gratitude  of  Gibbs  was  touching.  He 
is  now  United  States  Consul  at  Tamatave, 
Madagascar.  In  my  opinion  he  is  the  great 
est  living  representative  of  the  colored 
race.  We  have  been  close  friends  ever 
since  that  banquet." 

BOOKER  WASHINGTON  THE  VICTIM. 

(From  the  Washington  (D.  C.)  Post,  Octo 
ber  23,  1901.) 

Quite  the  most  deplorable  feature  of  the 
Booker  Washington  incident  is,  in  our 
opinion,  the  effect  it  is  likely  to  have  on 
Washington  himself;  yet  this  is  an  aspect 
of  the  case  wrhich  does  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  thus  far  to  any  of  the  multitu 
dinous  and  more  or  less  enlightened  com 
mentators  who  have  bestowed  their  views 
upon  the  country.  Criticisms  of  the  Presi- 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  359 

dent  are  matters  of  taste.  For  our  part, 
we  hold,  and  have  always  held,  that  a 
President's  private  and  domestic  affairs 
are  not  proper  subjects  of  public  discus 
sion.  A  man  does  not  surrender  all  of  his 
personal  liberties  in  becoming  the  Chief 
Executive  of  the  Nation.  At  least,  his 
purely  family  arrangements  are  not  the 
legitimate  concern  of  outsiders.  The  Pres 
idency  would  hardly  be  worth  the  having 
otherwise.  The  country,  however,  has  a 
right  to  consider  the  incident  in  the  light 
of  its  probable  injury  to  Washington  and 
to  the  great  and  useful  work  in  which  he 
is  engaged. 


In  closing  this  page  of  "Shadow  and 
Light"  I  am  loath  to  believe  that  this  ex 
treme  display  of  adverse  feeling  regarding 
the  President's  action  in  inviting  Mr. 
Washington  to  dine  with  him,  as  shown  in 
some  localities,  is  fully  shared  by  the  best 
element  of  Southern  opinion.  Few  South 
ern  gentlemen  of  the  class  who  so  cheer 
fully  pay  the  largest  amount  of  taxation 
for  the  tuition  of  the  Negro,  give  him  em 
ployment  and  do  much  to  advance  him 
along  educational  and  industrial  lines,  fear 
that  the  President's  action  will  cause  the 
obtrusion  of  his  bronze  pedals  beneath 
their  mahogany.  Trusting  that  he  will  be 
inspired  to  foster  those  elements  of  char 
acter  so  conspicuous  in  Mr.  Washington 
and  that  have  endeared  him  to  his  broad- 


360  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

minded  countrymen  both  North  and  South. 
The  best  intelligence,  the  acknowledged 
leaders  of  the  race,  are  not  only  conserva 
tive  along  political  lines,  but  are  in  accord 
with  those  who  claim  that  social  equality 
is  not  the  creature  of  law,  or  the  product 
of  coercion,  for,  in  a  generic  sense,  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  social  equality.  The 
.gentlemen  who  are  so  disturbed  hesitate, 
or  refuse  such  equality  with  many  of  their 
•own  race;  the  same  can  be  truthfully  said 
of  the  Negro.  Many  antibellum  theories 
.and  usages  have  already  vanished  under 
.the  advance  of  a  higher  civilization,  but 
the  "old  grudge"  is  still  utilized  when 
jtruth  and  justice  refuse  their  service. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  361 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Washington,  the  American  "Mecca"  for 
political  worshipers,  is  a  beautiful  city,  but 
well  deserving  its  "nom  de  plume"  as  "the 
city  of  magnificent  distances;"  for  any  one 
with  whom  you  have  business  seems  to  live 
five  miles  from  every  imaginable  point  of 
the  compass;  and  should  you  be  on  stern 
business  bent,  distance  will  not  "lend  en 
chantment  to  the  view."  It  is  here  that  the 
patriot,  and  the  mercenary,  the  ambitious 
and  the  envious  gather,  and  where  unity 
.and  divergence  hold  high  carnival. 

Dramatists  have  found  no  better  field 
for  portraying  the  vicissitudes  and  uncer 
tainties,  the  successes  and  triumphs  of  hu 
man  endeavor.  The  ante-room  to  the 
President's  office  presents  a  vivid 
picture,  as  they  wait  for,  or  emerge 
from,  executive  presence,  delineating  the 
varied  phases  of  impressible  human  na 
ture — the  despondent  air  of  ill  success;  the 
pomp  of  place  secured;  the  expectant,  but 
hope  deferred;  the  bitterness  depicted  in 
waiting  delegations  on  a  mission  of  opposi 
tion  bent;  the  gleam  of  gladness  on  suc 
cess;  homage  to  the  influential — all  these 
figure,  strut  or  bemoan  in  the  ratio  of  a 


362  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

self-importance  or  a  dejected  mein.  There 
is  no  more  humorous  reading,  or  more  typ 
ical,  than  the  ups  and  downs  of  office-seek 
ers.  Sometimes 'it  is  that  of  William  the 
"Innocent,"  and  often  that  of  William  the 
"Croker."  The  trials  of  "an  unsuccessful/' 
a  prototype  of  "Orpheus  C.  Kerr,"  the  nom 
de  plume  of  that  prince  of  writers,  on  this 
subject,  is  in  place: 

Diary  of  an  office-seeker,  William  the 
"Innocent": 

March  2d — Just  arrived.  Washington  a 
nice  town.  Wonder  if  it  would  not  be  as 
well  to  stay  here  as  go.  abroad. 

March  4th — Saw  McKinley  inaugurated. 
We  folks  who  nominated  him  will  be  all 
right  now.  Think  I  had  better  take  an  as 
sistant  secretaryship.  The  Administration 
wants  good  men,  who  know  something 
about  politics;  besides,  I  am  getting  to  like 
Washington. 

March  8th— Big  crowd  at  the  White 
House.  They  ought  to  give  the  President 
time  to  settle  himself.  Have  sold  my  ex 
cursion  ticket  and  will  stay  awhile.  Too 
many  people  make  a  hotel  uncomfortable. 
Have  found  a  good  boarding  house. 

March  llth — Shook  hands  with  the 
President  in  the  East  Room  and  told  him 
I  would  call  on  a  matter  of  business  in  a 
few  days.  He  seemed  pleased. 

March  15th — Went  to  the  Capitol  and 
found  Senator  X.  He  was  sour.  Said  the 
whole  State  was  there  chasing  him.  Asked 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  363 

me  what  I  wanted,  and  said,  "Better  go  for 
something  in  reach."  Maybe  an  auditor- 
ship  would  be  the  thing. 

March  23d— Took  my  papers  to  the 
White  House.  Thought  I'd  wait  and  have 
a  private  talk  with  the  President,  but  Ser 
geant  Porter  said  I'd  have  to  go  along  with 
the  rest.  What  an  ill-natured  set  they 
were.  Elbowed  me  right  along  just  be 
cause  they  saw  the  President  wanted  to 
talk  with  me.  Will  have  to  go  back  and 
finish  our  conversation. 

March  27 — Got  some  money  from 
home. 

March  29th— Went  to  the  White  House, 
but  the  chap  at  Porter's  door  wouldn't  let 
me  in.  Said  it  was  after  hours.  He  ought 
to  be  fired. 

April  3d— Saw  Mark  Hanna,  after  wait 
ing  five  hours.  Asked  him  why  my  letter 
had  not  been  answered.  He  said  he  was 
getting  400  a  da}r  and  his  secretaries  would 
catch  up  some  time  next  year.  I  always 
thought  Hanna  overestimated.  Nowr  I 
know  it. 

April  5th — Had  an  interview  with  the 
President.  Was  last  in  the  line,  so  they 
could  not  push  me  along.  When  I  told  him 
of  my  services  to  the  part}7,  he  replied: 
"Oh,  yes;"  and  for  me  to  file  my  papers  in 
the  State  Department.  Said  he  had  many 
good  friends  in  Indiana  and  hoped  they 
would  be  patient.  Can  he  have  forgotten 
I  am  not  from  Indiana?  Probably  the 


•364  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

tariff  is  worrying  him.  Shameful  the  way 
the  Senate  is  acting. 

April  7th — Borrowed  a  little  more 
money.  Washington  is  an  expensive  town 
to  live  in. 

April  llth — Senator  X.  says  all  the  audi- 
torships  were  mortgaged  before  the  elec 
tion,  but  he  will  indorse  me  for  a  special 
agency  or  a  chief  clerkship,  if  I  can  find  one 
that  is  not  under  the  civil  service  law. 

April  12th — D — n  the  civil  service  law. 

April  17th — Didn't  know  there  were  so 
jnany  good  positions  abroad.  Ought  to 
have  gone  for  one  of  them  in  the  first  place. 
That  State  Department  is  a  great  thing. 
Think  I'll  start  with  Antwerp  and  check 
off  a  few  which  will  suit  me.  Wonder 
where  1  can  negotiate  a  small  loan? 

April  19th — Got  in  to  see  the  President 
and  told  him  I  could  best  serve  the  Admin 
istration  and  the  party  abroad.  He  said, 
"Ob,  yes,"  and  to  file  my  papers  in  the  Post- 
office  Department,  and  he  hoped  his  friends 
in  Massachusetts  would  be  patient.  What 
made  him  think  I  was  from  Massachusetts? 
I  suppose  he  gets  mixed  sometimes. 

April  20th — Senator  X.  says  there  is  one 
<:hance  in  a  million  of  getting  a  Consulate; 
but  if  I  will  concentrate  on  Z  town  he  and 
the  delegation  will  do  what  they  can.  Sal 
ary,  f  1,000;  fees,  $87. 

April  21st — Have  concentrated  on  Z 
town.  Got  in  line  today  just  for  a  moment 
to  tell  the  President  it.  would  suit  me.  He 


SHADOW   AND  LIGHT.  365 

.said,  "Oli,  yes,"  JMIC!  to  file  my  papers  ill  the 
Treasury  Department,  and  lie  hoped  his 
friends  in  Minnesota  would  be  patient  till 
he  could  get  around  to  them.  Queer  he 
should  think  I  was  from  Minnesota. 

April  26th — The  ingratitude  of  that  man 
McKinley!  He  has  nominated  Jones  for 
Z  town,  when  he  knew  I  had  concentrated 
on  it.  After  my  services  to  the  party,  too! 
Who  is  Jones,  anyhow?  Bancroft  Ubimry 

April  27th — I  am  going  home.  Senator 
X  has  got  me  a  pass.  Will  send  for  my 
trunk  later.  It  is  base  ingratitude. 

William  the  "Croker,"  the  other  appli 
cant  for  official  favor,  wanted  "Ambasador 
to  Russia,"  and  while  not  attaining  the  full 
measure  of  his  ambition,  was  nevertheless 
rewarded  for  his  pertinacity.  His  sojourn 
in  Washington  had  been  long,  and  was  be 
coming  irksome,  particularly  so  to  the  Sen 
ators  and  Members  of  Congress  from  his 
State,  who  had  from  time  to  time  minis 
tered  to  his  pecuniary  wants.  But  Seth 
Orton  was  noted  at  home  and  abroad  for 
his  sta37ing  qualities.  He  came  from  an 
outlying  district  in  his  State  that  wras  po 
litically  pivotal,  and  Seth  had  been  known 
on  several  occasions  by  his  fox-horn  con 
tributions  to  rally  the  "unwashed"  and 
save  the  day  when  hope  but  faintly  glim 
mered  above  the  political  horizon.  For  his 
Congressional  delegation  Seth  was  both 
useful  at  home  and  expensive  abroad.  That 
the  mission  for  which  he  aspired  was  be- 


366  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

yond  his  reach  they  were  fully  aware;  that 
he  must  be  disposed  of  they  were  equally 
agreed.  After  having  adroitly  removed  the 
props  to  his  aspirations  for  Ambassador, 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  and  Consul,  they 
told  him  they  had  succeeded  in  getting  him 
an  Indian  agency,  paying  f  1,000  a  year.  He 
was  disgusted,  and  proclaimed  rebellion. 
They  appeased  him  by  telling  him  that  the 
appropriation  for  supplies  and  other  neces 
saries  the  last  year  was  ten  thousand  dol 
lars,  and  they  were  of  the  opinion  that  the 
former  agent  had  saved  half  of  it.  A 
gleam  of  joy  and  quick  consent  were 
prompt!  Walking  up  and  down  his  Con 
gressman's  room,  pleased,  then  thoughtful, 
then  morose,  he  finally  exclaimed  to  his 
patron,  "Look  here,  Mr.  Harris;  don't  you 
think  that  |5,000  of  the  |10,000  too  much 
to  give  them  d — n  nigger  Indians?" 

On  the  official  side  of  colored  Washing 
ton  life,  we  see  much  that  is  gratifying  rec 
ognition.  The  receipt  by  us  of  over  a  mil 
lion  dollars  annually,  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  rendering  of  a  creditable  service  on  the 
other,  while  our  professional  and  business 
status  in  the  District  is  equally  commenda 
ble,  and  much  more  prolific  in  the  bestowal 
of  substantial  and  lasting  benefit.  And 
on  the  domestic  side  we  have  much  that  is 
cheering,  comprising  a  large  representa 
tion  of  wealth  and  intelligence,  living  in 
homes  indicating  refinement  and  culture, 
and  with  a  social  contact  the  most  desir 
able. 


WILLIAM   CALVIN  CHASE, 
Lawyer,  and  Editor  of  "Washington  Bee." 

Uorn   in  Washington,   D.  C.,   February,    1854 — Leaving  the  Public  School  entered 
Howard  University  and  there  Graduated — As  Editor  or  Lawyer  He  is 
Tireless   in   His   Adherence   to    well-formed    Convictions — The 
"Bee"  Hums  no  Uncertain  Sound. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  367 

Mr.  Andrew  F.  Hilyer,  editor  and  com 
piler  of  "The  Twentieth  Century  Union 
League  Directory/-  in  his  introduction  to 
that  able  and  useful  publication,  says: 
"This  being  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury,  after  a  generation  of  freedom,  it  was 
thought  to  be  a  good  point  at  which  to 
stop  and  take  an  account  of  stock,  and  see 
just  what  is  the  actual  status  of  the  colored 
population  of  Washington,  the  Capital  of 
the  Nation,  where  the  colored  population 
is  large,  and  where  the  conditions  are  the 
most  favorable,  to  see  what  is  their  actual 
status  as  skilled  workmen,  in  business,  in 
the  professions,  and  in  their  organizations; 
in  short,  to  make  a  study,  at  first  hand,  of 
their  efforts  for  social  betterment." 

This  publication  contains  the  names, 
character  and  location  of  500  business  men 
'and  women.  It  is  creditable  to  the  com 
piler  and  encouraging  for  the  subjects  of 
its  reference.  Bancroft  Library 

The  colored  newspapers  of  the  District, 
several  in  number,  are  of  high  order,  and 
maintain  a  reputation  for  intelligent  jour 
nalism,  and  for  energy  and  devotion  to  the 
cause  they  espouse  are  abreast  with  those 
of  sister  communities.  The  growth  of  Ne 
gro  journals  in  our  country  has  been 
marked.  We  have  now  three  hundred  or 
more  newspapers  and  magazines,  edited 
and  published  by  colored  men  and  women. 
The  publisher  of  a  race  paper  early  finds 
that  it  is  not  a  sinecure  nor  a  bed  of  roses. 
If  he  is  zealous  and  uncompromising  in  the 


368  SHADOW   AND  LIGHT. 

defense  of  his  race,  exposing  outrages  and 
injustice;  advertisements  are  withdrawn 
by  those  who  have  the  most  patronage  to 
bestow..  Should  he  "crook  the  pregnant 
hinges  of  the  knee,  that  thrift  may  follow 
fawning,"  and  fail  to  denounce  the  wrong, 
the  paper  loses  influence  and  subscriptions 
of  tlrose  in  whose  interest  it  is  professedly 
established,  and  hence,  as  an  advertising 
medium,  it  is  deserted. 

So,  as  for  the  publisher  (in  the  words  of 
that  eccentric  Puritan,  Lorenzo  Dow), 
"He'll  be  damned  if  he  does,  and 
be  damned  if  he  don't."  He  is  be 
tween  "Scilla  and  Oarribdes,"  requir 
ing  versatility  of  ability,  courage  of  con 
viction  and  a  wise  discretion,  that  he  may 
steer  "between  the  rocks  of  too  much  dan 
ger  and  pale  fear,"  and  reach  the  port  of 
success.  The  mission  of  the  Negro  press 
is  a  noble  one,  for  "Right  is  of  no  sex^  and 
Wrong  of  no  color,"  and  God,  the  Father  of 
us  all,  with  these  as  its  standard,  to  be 
effectual  it  must  give  a  "plain,  unvarnished 
tale,  nor  set  down  aught  in  malice."  The 
white  journals  of  the  country  often  quote 
the  Negro  press  as  to  Negro  wants  and 
Negro  aspirations,  and  as  time  and  condi 
tions  shall  justify  it  will  necessarily  be 
come  more  metropolitan  and  less  exclusive, 
dealing  more  with  economic  and  industrial 
subjects  on  broader  lines  and  from  more- 
material  standpoints. 


HON.  WILLIAM  H.   HUNT. 

United  States  Consul  to  Madagascar. 

Bon;    May     1860,    in   Lou .1  sin na— Graduated   at   Grotou   Academy,    Massachusetts, 

and  'Studied   at   Williams'   College— Secretary   and  Vice-Consul  to   the 

Consular— Appointed   Consrl   by    Pres'dent    McKinley 

August  27,  1901— Competent  an  Worthy. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  86D 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

HOWARD  UNIVERSITY. 

Howard  University  was  established  by 
a  special  act  of  Congress  in  1867.  It  takes 
its  name  from  that  of  the  great  philan 
thropist  and  soldier,  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard, 
who  may  be  called  its  founder  and  great 
est  patron.  It  was  through  the  untiring 
efforts  of  General  Howard  that  this  special 
act  passed  Congress  to  establish  a  univer 
sity  on  such  broad  and  liberal  lines  as 
those  that  characterize  Howard  Univer 
sity. 

This  University  admits  students  of  both 
sexes  and  any  color  to  all  of  its  depart 
ments.  The  great  majority  of  its  students,, 
however,  are  colored,  and  some  of  its  grad 
uates  are  the  most  distinguished  men  of 
the  Negro  race  in  America.  It  has  splendid 
departments  of  law,  medicine,  theology  and 
the  arts  and  sciences. 

Howard  University  is  situated  on  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  sites  of  the  Capital  of 
the  Nation. 

Having  two  members  of  my  family  as 
teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  Washing 
ton  City,  I  have  learned  considerable  about 
them.  They  are  said  to  rank  among  our 
(24) 


370  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

best  public  schools,  and  are  constantly  im 
proving,  under  the  careful  supervision  of 
a  highly  competent  superintendent,  and  a 
paid  board  of  trustees.  There  are  112  school 
buildings  in  the  city — 75  for  white  and  37 
for  colored,  the  number  being  regulated  ac 
cording  to  population,  about  one-third  be 
ing  colored.  New  manual  training  schools 
have  just  been  erected,  for  both  races,  and 
a  growing  disposition  exists  to  provide 
equal  (though  separate)  accommodation 
and  opportunity.  The  colored  schools  are 
taught  exclusively  by  colored  teachers,  the 
grade  schools  being  conducted  by  the  grad 
uates  of  the  Washington  Normal  School 
almost  entirely.  The  M  Street  High  School, 
a  leading  sample  of  the  best  public  schools 
of  the  country,  has  a  teaching  faculty  of 
twenty  teachers,  most  of  them  graduates  of 
our  best  colleges,  such  as  Howard,  Yale, 
Oberlin,  University  of  Michigan,  Amherst, 
Brown  and  Cornell. 

1\.  II.  Terrill,  the  present  principal,  is  a 
graduate  of  Howard,  with  the  degree  of 
"Cum  laude,"  and,  after  having  won  golden 
opinions  from  the  board  and  attaches  of 
the  school  for  his  scholarship  and  super 
vising  ability,  has  been  appointed  by  Pres 
ident  Roosevelt  to  a  judgship  of  the  Dis 
trict,  and  will  assume  the  duties  thereof  in 
January,  1902. 

All  such  appointments  are  helpful,  com 
ing  from  the  highest  ruler,  and  for  place, 
at  the  fountain  head  of  the  Government, 
have  a  reflex  influence  upon  much  which  is 


[.   TKUKILL. 

born  in  Virginia  in  1S.77 — A  Graduate  .if  Harvard  College — A  Chief  of  Div* 
sion  in  the  United  States  Treasury  anil   Principal  of  the  Color,  d   High 
School — Appointed  one  of   the  Judges  of   the  District  of 
Columbia    November,    1!N)1. 


SHADOW  AND  LIGHT.  371 

unjust.  With  each  success  we  should  be 
ware  of  envy,  the  offspring  of  selfishness, 
which  is  apt  to  creep  insiduously  into  our 
lives.  We  should  crown  the  man  wrho  has 
achieved  distinction  and  advise  him  as  to 
pitfalls.  "No  sadder  proof/'  Carlisle  has 
said,  "can  be  given  by  a  man  of  his  own 
littleness  than  disbelief  in  great  men.7' 
There  is  no  royal  road  to  a  lasting  emi 
nence  but  the  toilsome  pathway  of  dili 
gence,  self-denial  and  high  moral  rectitude; 
surely  not  by  turning  sharp  corners  to  fol 
low  that  "will-o'-the  wisp"  transient  suc 
cess,  at  the  expense  of  upright  conduct. 
Neither  suavity  of  manner  nor  the  gilding 
of  education  will  atone  for  disregarding 
the  sanctity  of  obligation,  the  violation  of 
which  continues  to  wreck  the  lives  and 
blast  the  promise  of  many.  By  sowing  the 
seed  of  uprighteousness,  by  unceasing  ef 
fort  and  rigid  frugality,  the  harvest, 
though  sometimes  tardy,  will  be  sure  to 
produce  an  hundred  fold  in  Christian  vir 
tues  and  material  prosperity.  The  latter  is 
a  necessity  for  our  progress;  for,  say  what 
you  will  about  being  "just  as  good  as  any 
body,"  the  world  of  mankind  has  little  use 
for  a  penniless  man.  The  ratio  of  its  atten 
tion  to  you  is  largely  commensurate  with 
your  bank  account  and  your  ability  to  fur 
ther  ends  involving  expenditure.  Whether 
this  estimate  is  in  accord  with  the  highest 
principle,  the  Negro  has  not  time  to  inves 
tigate,  for  he  is  up  against  the  hard  fact 
that  confronts  the  great  majority  of  man- 


372  SHADOW  AND  LIGHT. 

kind,  and  one  with  which  each  for  himself 
must  grapple.  Opportunity  may  be  late, 
but  it  comes  to  him  who  watches  and  waits 
while  diligent  in  what  his  hands  may  find 
to  do.  For,  with  all  that  may  be  said,  gra 
cious  or  malicious,  of  the  "Negro  problem," 
we  are  unmistakably  on  the  upward  grade, 
educationally  and  financially,  while  these 
bitter  criticisms  and  animadversions  will 
be  the  moral  weights  to  steady  our  foot 
steps  and  give  surety  to  progress. 

Granting  no  excuse  for  ignorance  or  un- 
fitness  in  a  political  aspirant,  or  for  a  relig 
ious  ministry  at  the  present  day,  we  can 
not  but  remember  that  our  present  lines 
in  more  pleasant  places,  both  in 
Church  and  State,  had  impetus  through  the 
trying  ordeal  of  toil,  suffering  and  mas 
sacre  during  the  era  of  reconstruction. 
Many,  though  unlettered,  with  a  nobility 
of  soul  that  oppression  could  not  humble, 
were  martyrs  to  their  Christian  zeal  for  the 
right  and  finger  boards  and  beacon  lights 
on  the  dark  and  perilous  road  to  our  pres 
ent  advanced  position. 

In  concluding  this  imperfect  autobiog 
raphy,  containing  mention  of  "men  I  have 
met"  in  the  nineteenth  century,  absence  of 
many  co-laborers,  both  white  and  colored, 
will  be  observable,  whose  ability,  devotion 
and  sacrifice  should  be  treasured  as  heir 
looms  by  a  grateful  people. 

And  now,  kind  reader,  who  has  followed 
me  in  my  wanderings — 

"Say  not  'Good  night,-  but  in  some 
brighter  clime  bid  me  'Good  morning.' ? 


